Shadows of the Night
by Michelle P
Summary: SG1 finds themselves on a world of people afraid of the night. However, these fears are well put, dark things may lurk within the shadows of the night. CHANGED TITLE, COMPLETE!
1. Of Children's Stories and the Night

Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to Stargate SG-1 except this plot line and any original characters that I may or may not create.

**Summary: A world afraid of the night, have good reason for the fears, for dark things may lurk within the shadows of the night.**

**A/N: Okay people, I'm going to try another story. The summary isn't very complete, but I'm kinda working on the story as I go. Although I have vague idea of where I'm going, that idea is far from solid. Don't let that keep you from reading though. Go ahead and read, and let me know what you think afterwards! Enjoy!**

**Shadows of the Night**

**Chapter 1: Of Children's Stories and The Night**

On the other side of the Stargate, it was quiet. A soft mist clung to the air, while a lone breeze stumbled across the land, whispering sweet nothings into Jonas's ears. Hanging above him, the sky smiled down on him, a dark, peaceful smile that touched him to his very soul. Hundreds of tiny stars blinked at him, while the moon drifted amongst them, shrouded in the dark shadows of lingering clouds.

The entire world was asleep, apparently the visit of SG-1 had interrupted the night at a bad time. Even as Jonas squinted to see the village hiding off in the distance, nobody came to greet them. There was supposed to be a welcoming party. The leader of the village said to come any time, day or night, there would be a party awaiting their arrival. Nobody had said anything about that party being invisible.

"I don't think there's anyone around." Jonas mused aloud.

Jack turned to him, dark eyes sparkling sarcastically. "Ya think?" O'Neill replied, keeping his voice barely above a whisper.

Jonas said nothing to the Colonel's comment. He only shrugged and took tentative steps away from the gate. Something moved beneath his foot, and when he looked down, he was greeted by two tiny, glowing red eyes. Eyes that watched him eagerly, waiting to see what his next movement would be. Without thinking, he let out a slight yelp and jumped back. The red eyes quickly scurried away, an annoyed squeal following it.

"The locals are slightly antisocial, don't you think?" Jack questioned, watching the tiny creature hurry off.

"I don't think that was one of the locals that we're looking for, sir." Major Carter replied, her voice slightly amused.

Somewhere from the right of the gate, a series of snapping branches was heard. The sound split through the night, and SG-1 jumped, Colonel O'Neill drawing his weapon and taking a quick aim.

Nothing crept from the shadows of the gate to greet them, there wasn't even a second sound that gave away the fact that there may have been something there. Something hiding, and watching.

Jonas shook his head, his mind was beginning to wander in directions that he didn't really want it to go. His mind kept drifting, running rings around the past missions in which they found themselves in situations slightly more supernatural than their training had prepared them for. Surely this couldn't be another of those types of missions. No, he was almost certain that it wasn't one of those mission types. This was supposed to be a simple meet and greet to make new allies and trading partners. That was _it_. Nothing more, nothing less, the team had a job to do, and they were bound determined to do it properly.

"We couldn't have come at a good time. Perhaps we should go back to Earth and wait until the sun comes up." Jonas suggested.

This wasn't one of those supernatural missions, but he often found that staying in one place for any amount of time, drew trouble to them. Their presence was like a trouble magnet, and there was really nothing any of them could do to stop it. Trouble just seemed to follow them around, and find them in the least likely of places.

"I think that's a _very_ good idea, Jonas. Carter dial us out, we'll come back later." Jack replied.

"Yes, Sir." Sam replied and moved to the DHD so that she could dial them out.

Just as she began to punch in the address, a small, shadowy group of people came walking slowly toward them from within the small village.

"Hold up, Major. Let's see what these people want first. Maybe they're the welcoming party." O'Neill said, raising a hand in a sort of greeting to the approaching shadows.

"Hiya, folks." Jack called, his voice taking on a cheerful undertone.

"You must be the beings from Earth. Forgive us for not being here when you arrived." Came a voice from one of the forms, but it was impossible to tell which while they were only illuminated by a foggy light from the stars.

"Yes, we are from Earth." Jonas answered.

"It is good to meet you, please, come with us into the village. It will be quiet, but it is late, and so I'm sure you would expect nothing more. Come quickly now, we can't stay out here too long." Came the same voice.

"Well, if it's better, we can come back in the morning, whenever that is." Jack replied.

"No, it is quite all right, come, we'll take you to the king's palace."

"Are you sure about that? I'm sure the king is visiting dreamland right now. We wouldn't want to disturb him." O'Neill said.

"You will not disturb him, he is waiting up for you. He has been waiting for several hours."

"Oh, well, in that case. Abort the sequence, Carter. We're going in." Jack said, winking at Jonas's more than pleased, smile.

They walked in shadow, away from the gate, which was a dark shape against the night sky. The mist danced around them, and the breeze whispered to them, words that were inaudible, but it whispered nonetheless.

Entering the village was like entering a whole new dimension. If it was possible, it was even _more_ quiet than what they had just walked out of. There was absolutely nothing going on, not _anywhere_. All windows were dark. All doors were closed and locked. There wasn't even a single tendril of smoke escaping from a chimney. There was nothing.

"Are we there yet?" Jack asked the shadowed shapes in the lead.

"No, it will be a few more moments." Came a different voice than the one that had spoke to them earlier.

Jack was silent as he followed, his team behind him, gazing curiously about the village that had been silenced by the night.

"It's awfully quiet here. Quieter than I'd expected it to be. You have absolutely _no_ night owls around here?" O'Neill questioned.

"Night-owls?" Came a curious voice, spoken slowly as it twisted around the unfamiliar term.

"People that like the night." Jack clarified.

An uneasy silence fell over the group leading them.

"Nobody dares to stay out long enough to enjoy the night." The voice spoke, sounding slightly taken aback.

"Why not?"

"Strange happenings take place after dark."

"Well, _you_ folks don't seem to be afraid of the big bad wolf." O'Neill replied, smiling slightly.

"What is the big bad wolf?" The curious voice asked again, and once again, the voice was slow and measured as it spoke the words.

"Ever hear of Goldilocks and the big bad wolf?" Jack asked.

"Uh, Sir, that's a different story." Sam answered.

"Oh yes, I remember now, Goldilocks had some weird conspiracy going on with the _three bears._ _Little Red Riding Hood_ was stalked by the big bad wolf, and it ate her granny, right?" Jack asked innocently.

"Yes, Sir." Sam replied, a trapped laugh thickening her words.

"What's so funny, Carter?" Jack asked.

"You're making _children's_ stories sound like something connected with the _mafia_, Sir." Sam replied, and now she allowed herself the freedom of laughing.

"Well, you never know, that Little Red Riding Hood could've been a member of the Boston Mafia." Jack replied.

"Ah yes, the innocent looking ones are _always_ the guilty party." Sam murmured to Jonas. He smiled at the statement.

"Forgive me for interrupting, but I am unsure of what you're speaking of." Came the curious voice again.

Sam ceased her laughs and turned toward the voice.

"Don't worry about it. Some things are never understood." She cast an accusing glance at Colonel O'Neill, but Jonas was the only one to see it, for the Major's face was hidden in the shadows.

"I do not believe that Little Red Riding Hood, would be capable of residing in the ranks of a mafia, O'Neill." Teal'c replied somberly.

Sam dissolved into childish giggles again, and this time Jonas, joined her merriment.

"You've read Little Red Riding Hood?" Jack asked, hiding laughter of his own.

"Indeed, I have become familiar with many of your stories told to entertain children." Teal'c said.

"I just never thought of you as a guy that would go for girls in red jump suits and capes. What do you read to _your_ children anyway?" Jack asked.

"We tell our children stories of great warriors and teach them the basics of battle training to entertain them." Teal'c replied.

"Wow, you'd think that would be a lot for a little kid to take in."

"It is not difficult for them."

"Okay, so it'd be a lot for _me _to take in" Jack said.

"Indeed." Teal'c answered. Jack suddenly fell silent, and a look of mock shock crossed his face.

Carter and Jonas began to laugh again.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" O'Neill asked quickly.

"It does not mean anything. I was simply agreeing with your assessment." Teal'c answered.

"Ah." Jack murmured.


	2. Living Shadow

**Chapter 2: Living Shadow**

"You're sure that your king is up? It looks a bit quiet in there to me." Jack replied.

"I am certain. He is awaiting your arrival in the library. He would not break his oath." Replied one of their welcoming party members.

"As long as you're certain."

"I am."

"Well then, lead the way."

SG-1 was lead through the large doors of the palace, and into the entry way. The area was large, large and moonlit. Silent shadows crept from the corners and met in the room's centre, Pooling in silent darkness. Across the room, a set of stairs stretched to the second floor, and beckoned to the team, while doors on either side of the room, opened into other large, shadowed rooms.

"Wow." Jack replied silently.

"This way." Replied the man who'd been speaking to them. They were lead to the foot of the staircase, and as they climbed, the hollow sounds of their footsteps drifted around them.

At the top of the stairs, the man who had been leading them moved to the side of the corridor they had just entered, and a second later, a small spark ignited a wooden torch. A torch which the man took from the wall and turned back to them.

In the dancing firelight, the face of the man was just visible. His eyes were pale, threateningly pale, blue or green. Jonas couldn't tell which. Not at the distance he was from the man. Jonas _could_ see that their leader's hair was a pale blonde that seemed to glow in the firelight, creating a sort of halo effect around the slim face and pale eyes.

"It's not far now." The fair-haired man replied somberly.

There were no replying remarks from any of the SG-1 members and in silence, they followed through the shadows until they finally halted outside a large oak door that was slightly ajar. From inside there was the sound of a crackling fire, and hushed mumbling amongst unseen presences.

The door was pushed open, and they were lead inside, where a solidly built man slowly got from a chair, and placed an open book on the table next to him. The man looked to the newcomers and broke into a gentle, but strained smile. The man looked as though the wight of the world rested solidly upon his shoulders. His grey eyes were strained and slightly dulled, while the lines on his forehead showed as deep creases and line around his eyes were incredibly pronounced.

"Welcome. I suspect you got a _fair_ welcome?" The man asked, his voice was soft and kind, yet he sounded as though he were trying to appear more collected than he was feeling.

"Yeah, the welcoming party was great, a bit subdued, but nothing to be worried about." O'Neill smiled tightly.

"That is good news at least. It is a shame we cannot get _more_ good news." The man said.

"What do you mean?" Jonas asked curiously.

"We have had a few mishaps in the past couple of months. Mishaps that none of us are very fond of. People are even afraid to go out after dark now for fear of what may become of them."

"So, that's why everything is so silent?"

"That is why. However, let us not speak of such things at the present moment. I am very pleased to have you pay a visit to us. I am Johnston Brimere, you have met Tanely Kystin I am certain." Johnston replied.

The head of the welcoming party nodded in greeting, and Jonas saw that in the better lighting, his eyes were more like a mix between green and blue, and very pale. His skin tone was also pale, and in the light, the man looked almost delicate.

"Yes, I believe we have. I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, this is Major Carter, Jonas Quinn, and Teal'c." Jack said, quickly shoving aside the introductions.

"It is a pleasure." Johnston said certainly.

He dismissed his men and told them to go home and get some rest. All obeyed, and slowly left the library.

"Keep in the open!" Johnston yelled after them.

There was an uncomfortable silence that greeted the exclamation and Jack found himself shifting uncomfortably in it.

"If nobody dares to go out after dark, why are they leaving?" Jack asked.

"They live in the guesthouses, less than a minute's walk from here. If they keep in the open, they should be fine."

"And if they _don't_ stay in the open?" O'Neill asked.

From below, in the street, a terrified scream crashed down on the silence, and all rushed to the window in an attempt to see what was causing the ruckus. Below, they saw a member of the welcoming party being pulled into the shadows.

Johnston's face went two shades whiter than it had been, and Jonas hurried out of the library, hearing the rest of the team coming behind him.

"Where are you going? You cannot go out there!" Johnston called.

"Watch us! We're not going to let that man die!" Jack called back.

"You cannot leave! Not at night!"

SG-1 ignored the pleading calls of Johnston and continued to run, hoping that they would not be too late.

Jonas was the first to stumble into the yard and he hurried around the castle, to the place they had last seen the man. A desperate search, turned nothing up, no signs of the man, and no signs of injury.

In the shadows, Jonas saw a figure, moving swiftly toward him. He quickly drew his weapon and fired. The shot seemed to make a solid connection with whatever was hiding in the shadows, for it hit the ground stiffly, with a sickening thud.

"Jonas?" Came the desperate call of Colonel O'Neill.

"I'm fine, Colonel, I think I got it." Jonas replied.

"Got what?" Jack asked, coming up next to him.

Jonas turned back to the shadows, and saw nothing where the figure had just been moments before.

"I _thought_ I got it." Jonas replied, correcting himself.

"Got _what_?" O'Neill asked.

"I don't know what it was, but it was something." Jonas replied, he turned back to the empty spot where the thing had just been, and still saw nothing.

"How do you know it was anything at all? We've been in strange situations before." O'Neill asked.

"Colonel, it _was_ something. I'm sure of it."

"If it was something, it's nothing now. There isn't anything there."

"I know." Jonas replied, his gaze still focused on the empty shadows.


	3. Impossible Survival

**A/N: Be warned, this next chapter is a bit darker than what I usually write. I don't believe it is enough to cause my rating to be changed at the present time, but that may change as the story progresses. Read it over and tell me what you think.**

**Chapter 3: Impossible Survival**

Jonas still watched the empty shadows, and Colonel O'Neill's hand on his shoulder finally drew his attention away.

"You've been standing there for the past ten minutes, Jonas. There's nothing there. We tried. C'mon, we'd better get back inside before whatever happened to him happens to us." Jack replied quietly.

"I'm sure there was something there. I shot it. There was no way it could've survived. I was sure I'd made a direct hit." Jonas said.

"Well, Jonas, apparently, your marksmanship isn't as good as you think. Come on."

Jonas nodded silently and followed the rest of the team back into the palace.

Johnston met them at the entry way, face deathly pale, and eyes afraid.

"You all must be daft! Terrible things lurk in the shadows, there aren't many that survive." He yelled.

"Hey, we're okay. There were no creepy crawlies out there waiting." Jack said.

"You are incredibly fortunate that there were not."

"So, are you going to tell us what happened now?" O'Neill questioned.

"Come back to the library, I'll explain all that I know."

"We're right behind you." O'Neill said and followed the man to the library.

When all were settled in around the fireplace. The king began to explain.

"A few months ago, strange things began to happen after dark. It all started with the disappearance of a local boy, only seven. Harrington Grewin was his name. He went missing one night. His mother said that she turned away for only a moment, and when she turned back, her boy was gone without a sign. A few days later, we found Harrington's body in the centre of the town. He had been mutilated almost beyond recognition. The boy never had a chance." Johnston explained.

"How awful." Sam replied.

"Indeed it was, especially for the boy's parents. His father completely broke down at the final viewing and had to be rushed away. He was the only child, and his mother can have no more. The first was risk enough." Johnston continued.

"Then what?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"A few days later, another went missing from the village. A woman this time, I believe she was called Carine Threshly. She went missing during the night as well. Her soon-to-be-husband had been holding her only seconds before. She was taken right from his arms. The next morning, her body was found on Gyles's front stoop. Gyles was her romantic interest. He could not accept the fact that she was gone."

SG-1 was silent, listening for more information, when Johnston spoke again.

"The village was quiet for a few weeks, the law had been out searching for the murderer, and had no luck in finding the person. Toward the end of the month we had another series of disappearances, many were children, each turned up dead a few days after the disappearance. Last week, we had three law officers go missing in the same night, the next day, each man's body had been placed either in the centre town, or on his stoop. There had been no more incidents until tonight. By now, my entire village is terrified to be out after dark." Johnston said.

"How many have been killed by now?" Jonas asked.

"I believe there have been fifteen. Fifteen murders in the past two months, and nobody knows what to do about it."

"Has anyone _tried_ to find out what has been causing it?" Jack asked.

"Of course! However, those who did try, were killed."

"So, if your theory is correct, then the man who went missing tonight, will turn up dead in anywhere from one to three days?" Jonas questioned.

"Yes. Unless he is one of those who escape, only to die a painful death short hours later. We've had two or three of those incidents." Johnston replied.

"So, it's not _impossible_ to escape, only impossible to _survive_?" Sam wondered.

"Precisely."

Uneasy silence fell over all of them, as they took the news in. In the fireplace, the crackling embers slowly dwindled down, as all present fell into uneasy sleep where they sat, their sleep haunted by horrible dreams of the shadows.


	4. A Nightmare That is Too Real

**A/N: Yeah, I suppose I _have _been going all out with the creepy stuff, I hope nobody minds though. Okay, you all have the background story of what's been taking place on the planet, you've been introduced to the problem. Now let's get going with some action eh? **

**Chapter 4: A Nightmare That is Too Real**

The final embers of the fire died into nothing, and Colonel O'Neill stirred in his sleep. He opened his eyes and was greeted with darkness, hearing the comforting sounds of his team breathing around him. They must've fallen asleep before we were taken to our rooms. What was the last thing he recalled? Ah yes, the last thing he was certain that he recalled was the mention of disappearances and murders that had been taking place around the village for the past couple of months.

After that he must've tuned everything out, for he didn't truly remember any of it. He looked around in the darkness, seeing the forms of his team, sleeping soundly where they sat, his gaze automatically drifted to where Major Carter was. He watched her for a few moments, she shifted position, and he quickly turned away incase she were to wake up. However, she only switched position.

He heard a slight commotion outside the library window, down in the yard and he quietly stumbled over to where the window was still slightly open. He looked down, and saw a shadowy figure moving stealthily through the night. The figure looked to be carrying a burden, but from the distance, O'Neill was unable to tell _what_.

He found himself drifting in a sort of trance-like feeling as he watched the form below him. It moved silently, and without clumsiness. It almost _glided_ through the yard. He continued to watch the silent form, and saw it turn toward him. Quickly, he ducked out of sight until he heard the silent movement resume.

When he felt it safe, he rose up in front of the window again, and quickly stumbled backwards with a yell. He toppled over something, and found himself frozen in place, he couldn't move, he couldn't even tear his eyes away.

The form that had been down below, had somehow scaled the wall, and was now sitting on the window ledge, watching him through bright red eyes, rimmed with yellow. The figure remained in shadows, and only the eyes were visible. The thing groaned, a low, throaty growl, that vibrated O'Neill's bones.

Finding his movement, Jack quickly scooted back, and managed to bump into something, as he tore his gaze from the yellow rimmed stare to look at what he'd bumped into, he saw Jonas stir instantly, and open his eyes, blinking the sleep from them. Jonas looked down and saw Colonel O'Neill, quickly turn his head back to something else. When Jonas looked up, he immediately reached for his gun.

A strange, shadowed figure was advancing on Colonel O'Neill, and the older man, was moving his mouth, but no words came out. Jonas took a hurried aim at the shape with the terrifying eyes and fired without a second thought.

His shot missed, went wide and embedded itself into the wall next to the window. Seeing that his shot had missed, Jonas quickly pushed himself from the chair and took a stand next to where Colonel O'Neill was hurrying to gain his feet.

"What _is_ that thing?" Jonas called out in surprise.

"Something that isn't a people person." Jack replied quickly, finding his voice to be slightly hushed and gravelly.

Jonas fired again, and the figure charged at him. From around the room, the other sleepers were quickly getting to their feet and grabbing whatever was closest to defend themselves. Jonas saw the form heading for Colonel O'Neill and quickly pushed him out of the way, both of them falling into the clear, in a heap on the ground.

"Shoot it Carter!" Jack yelled, after gently rolling out from beneath Jonas.

Three shots rang out and one made a solid connection for sure, the figure wailed a deafening yowl, that temporarily blocked out everyone's hearing, before leaping through the window. Sam rushed to the ledge and looked down with wide, blue eyes. The thing, whatever it had been was quickly hurrying off into the shadows that surrounded the palace.

"Close the window!" Johnston yelled. Carter did as she was asked, and when she looked back, she saw Jonas and Colonel O'Neill hurrying off after the creature that had been threatening them.

She followed behind Teal'c who took off after Jonas's vanishing shape. They burst through the front doors and ran over the cobblestone yard, their footsteps echoing around them in the silence. They rounded the corner, and saw the bushes moving in the darkness. It was a sure sign that something had been through there recently.

With a wide-eyed glance back, Jonas parted the brush and followed the path that had been left behind. Without asking questions, all followed him, all except for Johnston, who had halted his running just inside the front door.

Jonas dodged through the brush, leapt over twisted roots, and ducked around larger trees, until he finally reached an opening, scarcely lit by the fading moonlight of the night. All that greeted him were hundreds of shadows, inching ever so closer to him, and coming from all sides.

From the shadows, he saw the glint of eyes that caught what little light there was, and he quickly shot. The shot missed, and the next thing he knew, a creature was rushing at him from the shadows, red eyes brimming with hatred and something that Jonas could only explain as pure evil.


	5. Warnings

**Chapter 5: Warnings**

Jonas tried to move, tried to dodge out of the way, but found that he was completely immobile. From what, he couldn't tell, but he couldn't move, it was as though the figure rushing from the shadows had shoved him into a trance. A trance in which his mind could register all that was happening, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his body to cooperate with his mind.

The glowering eyes drew ever so nearer, and Jonas drew in a sharp breath, he tensed every muscle in his body, and waited to accept the impact which he knew was eminent.

"Jonas, get out of the way!" Colonel O'Neill yelled.

O'Neill's voice seemed to be echoing from somewhere far off, a place where Jonas couldn't quite reach. He turned his gaze toward O'Neill, saw the look of pure terror splashed over the Colonel's face, and willed himself to move.

'_C'mon Jonas, just move! How hard can it be? This is no time to disobey orders! Just move!' _Jonas yelled inside his mind, his voice reverberated off of the walls of his thoughts, and echoed all around him.

Jonas looked up, and saw the figure was no more than two feet away from him. He called out in surprise, and heard a gunshot go off. The form fell in a heap, and Jonas stumbled backwards, nearly losing his balance.

He turned to where the shot had come from, and saw Major Carter holding a weapon out in front of her.

"Are you okay, Jonas?" She asked him.

"I think so, yeah. Thanks Major." Jonas replied.

"Not a problem, but next time, how about you _move_ when something is about to kill you, huh?" Sam replied simply, a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and Jonas couldn't help, but smile back.

"Did you get it Carter?" Jack called.

Sam looked back to the spot where the creature had fallen, and her eyes grew wide when she saw that the place was empty. There was nothing there, not even a single clue.

"I thought I had, but I must not have." She said.

"Perhaps your shot merely stunned the creature, Major Carter." Teal'c offered.

"Maybe, but if that's the case then that thing sure as _hell_ isn't human." Carter answered, her eyes still fixed on the now vacant spot.

"Let's get back inside before it decides to come for another round." O'Neill said softly.

Nobody offered an argument. They didn't dare to. They were all more than willing to get inside out of the dark, because so far, the simple meet and greet had become something far more complicated.

A wildly muttering Johnston met them at the door, murmuring phrases about insanity and death wishes. Colonel O'Neill cast an amused glance back over his shoulder to where Jonas and the others were following behind.

"Thanks for your concerns." Jack said in good humor.

"Hmpf." Johnston uttered and then slammed the door shut behind them. They watched as he locked it behind him, sliding five bolts across it.

"You should remain inside for the remainder of the night." He murmured.

"There are still many hours until daylight, follow me, I will show you to your rooms. You would be best off to remain inside them with your doors and windows locked. It knows you are here now, and it understands that you are not afraid of it. It _will_ kill any of you if it is granted the chance. Hope that none of you _do_ offer a chance." Johnston replied, his voice was slightly harsher than it had previously been, and it was laced with concern and fear.

He lead each member of SG-1 to separate rooms, and opened the doors. After granting them a fair night, and warning them yet again to lock the doors and windows, Johnston ambled off to his own room.

Jonas lay awake, staring aimlessly at the ceiling, for what seemed like a very long time. He heard scratching outside of his locked window, but didn't bother looking to see what was calling. Instead, he rolled over and closed his eyes, eventually falling into a fitful sleep which he did not awaken from until early morning, despite the endless scraping at his window, and the haunting sound of howling wind entering through cracks in the architecture.

**A/N: Sorry about the short length of this chapter, but I think it was necessary, and stood best alone. Next chapter should be longer, I hope! Until then leave me a review and let me in on your thoughts.**


	6. The Morning After

**Chapter 6: The Morning After**

Bright shafts of sunlight, bathed the entire room in a soft yellow glow. Jonas awoke to the feeling of safety. It was as though the events of the previous night had never taken place. He quickly got out of bed and made his way to the locked window.

Without a thought, he undid the lock and slid it open, allowing a gust of fresh morning air to swirl in. His gaze drifted to the ledge of the window, where he saw distinct impressions of scratches and what appeared to be gnawing. Something had been trying to get in, luckily it hadn't succeeded, for Jonas would've been anything, but prepared for it.

He recalled hearing the scratching, and he also recalled ignoring it and dismissing the sounds as something only in dreams. He was glad that he'd locked the window, he didn't want to think of what would have happened if he _hadn't_ bothered to lock up. It was at that moment that all of the secure feelings of safety abandoned him, leaving only a cold, unsettling churning in the pit of his stomach.

Still pondering over the events, he cast his gaze downward, and saw a heap of cloth laying on the ground below his window. He looked closer, and saw a struggled movement nudge the cloth. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the heap was a person, but the _person_ hadn't moved the cloth, it had only been the wind tugging at the heap of material.

Still, he had to find out if the person was still alive. He hurried to unlock the door and rushed down to the front doors, where he worked quickly to undo _those_ locks. It took a good seven minutes to just escape into the yard. From there, he hurried around to his window and rushed to drop down beside the unmoving form.

He gently turned the form over so he could see the face, and when he succeeded, the man opened dull, blue eyes. The sparkle of blue in the man's eyes, was constantly fading as the life was slowlydrained from him.

"Hey! I need some help out here!" Jonas yelled, hoping that anyone would hear him and answer to his calls. When nobody came, he turned his attention back to the slowly fading man.

"What happened?" Jonas asked softly, bringing the man's head to rest on his knees.

"It is watching you . . . waiting . . . evil . . . no escape." The man rasped out.

"What?" Jonas asked.

"Watching." The man broke off into a gurgling sound.

"What's watching? What is it?" Jonas yelled desperately.

"Evil." With that, the man's eyes glazed over completely, and his head fell limp against Jonas's leg.

Jonas gently placed the man back, flat on the ground. As he studied the still face, he recognized the man as the one that had been pulled into the bushes the night before, and now, he lay dead, leaving with only a jumbled warning that Jonas couldn't explain.

It was then that a maid came around the corner. She surveyed the sight before her, screamed, and rushed to the fallen man's side, roughly shoving Jonas out of the way. Jonas tumbled back, and landed ungracefully on his back.

"What did you do to him?" The woman screamed.

Jonas looked at her with wide eyes. "Nothing. I didn't do anything, I was trying to _help_ him. It was no use. He was nearly dead when I found him. If I had been a little earlier, something might have been able to be done, but I didn't get here in time."

The woman cast him a pale look, her face softened, and she managed a weak smile, her brown eyes danced with sadness.

"I am sorry. I should not have blamed you. There was nothing you could have done. He has been marked, see here?" She pointed to a strange, jagged shaped cut on the dead man's cheek. "It is the mark of the taken, all who are taken, die. Nothing can be done for them."

"What do you mean?" Jonas asked slowly, he thought he understood, but he wanted to be certain.

"All who are taken, are branded with this mark. All who receive this mark die. It is the mark of the walking shadow. The shadow has been wreaking havoc on our village for many days now. It has been murdering our people. However, it is only seen after dark." She said.

"Yeah, we met it. It doesn't seem too friendly." Jonas replied.

"You are fortunate to have met up with it and survived, there are not many who do."

"Yeah, I think we've figured that out by now."

"Come, I will call men to come and pick up the body. You may want to remain near here. They will wish to ask you some questions."

"Of course, I'm not going to go anywhere." Jonas assured her.

She smiled and got to her feet. Jonas returned the smile and also got to his feet. He wandered around the yard until the sounds of footsteps were heard approaching.

"Hey, it's a dead guy!" Jack called, slightly surprised.

Jonas turned to the voice, and saw O'Neill, walking in a circle around the dead man.

"What happened to _him_?" Jack asked.

"Walking shadow." Jonas answered simply.

"Ah, well, that's . . . different. It looks like he took quite a beating, take a look at that cut. Someone whacked him a good one." O'Neill said.

Jonas watched him with a silent question, and was once again drawn away by the sound of approaching footsteps.

This time, two men in brown outfits followed the young maid around the corner, carrying a stretcher between them.

"Who found the body?" One of the men asked.

"That man, right there." The maid replied, pointing toward Jonas. She gave him a reassuring smile, and Jonas nodded in thanks.

"Sir, I am going to ask you a few questions, while Gregor prepares the body for transport. Come over this way, please." The man replied. Jonas followed, and so did Colonel O'Neill.

Jack wanted the details, and he wanted all the information that he could get. He wanted to know _exactly_ what Jonas had seen, and then he wanted to get the meet and greet over with and check back in with General Hammond to report the situation. He just _knew_ that Hammond would jump for joy when he heard what SG-1 had walked into _this_ time.

**A/N: Okay so the chapter wasn't as long as I'd planned. Nonetheless, let me in on your thoughts. I'd really appreciate it. Truly, I would, so leave me your thoughts, please!**


	7. Support and Questioning

**Chapter 7: Support and Questioning**

"You are the one who discovered the body, correct?" The officer asked. The man's voice was strict and harsh, but a soft undertone could be detected beneath the harsh exterior.

Jonas nodded. "That's correct."

Dark blue eyes stared at Jonas, scrutinizing the young man, looking for signs of lies, but when none were found, the man continued with his questioning.

"Explain to me _how_ exactly you came to make the discovery." The blue-eyed man replied. A light wind brushed by, tousling the man's black hair.

"It was just chance, really. I got up this morning, went to open the window, looked down, and I saw the man from my window. I hurried to the yard to see if there was anything I could do to help, and found him." Jonas replied.

"Did you move or damage the body in any way, Mr. Quinn?"

"There wasn't a _body_ when I first arrived. H..." Jonas began, but was quickly interrupted by his interrogator.

"What do you mean by that Mr. Quinn?" The man asked quickly.

"He was trying to _tell _you before you so rudely interrupted. Why don't you just hold your tongue and let Jonas _finish_ speaking before _you _start?" Jack replied, slightly annoyed.

"I am sorry, Mr. Quinn. Please, continue." The officer told him.

"When I got out here, I rolled the body over so I could see his face. He wasn't dead." Jonas replied.

"Did you call for assistance?"

"Yes, I'm sure I did, but nobody answered."

"What did you do?"

"The only thing I _could_ do. I made him comfortable and asked what happened." Jonas answered.

"You didn't go to retrieve help?"

"I didn't want to leave him alone. So no, I didn't go for help."

"Did he speak to you at all?"

"Well, yeah, but it was all mumbled and hard to make out." Jonas replied.

"I need you to tell me _exactly_ what you remember him saying."

"All right. He told me something was watching me and waiting for _something_, but I couldn't make it out. He said that there was no escape." Jonas answered, honestly.

"Did you ask him what he was speaking of?"

"Yeah, I did. All he said was that it was watching and that it was evil. Then he died, and I placed him back on the ground." Jonas replied.

"So, you _did_ move the body."

"Only to turn him over, raise his head, and put him back down after he died."

"You didn't damage him?"

"That's ridiculous! Why would he do _that_?" O'Neill objected.

"Please, remain silent. We are asking Mr. _Quinn_ to tell the events as he remembers them." The dark-haired man said.

"Mr. Quinn, did you damage the body in _any_ way?" The man continued, shooting O'Neill a warning glance when the Colonel looked as though he were about to speak.

"Of course not! I tried to _help_ him." Jonas replied, his voice slightly louder than it had to be.

"Mr. Quinn, there is no need to yell." The man replied.

Jonas flushed slightly. "Sorry." He apologized.

"What happened after the man died?"

"That's when the maid came outside." Jonas replied.

"The maid? Is that the woman who came to retrieve us?"

"As far as I know. She explained to me the legend of the walking shadow and told me of the mark left as a trademark." Jonas replied.

"Is that everything?"

"Yes, then Colonel O'Neill came outside, after the maid left."

Jack smiled tightly.

"Colonel O'Neill, did you or did you not come out when Mr. Quinn was alone with the body?"

"I did." Jack answered shortly.

"That's when you came in." Jonas replied.

"Is there anything else?" The man questioned.

Jonas thought for a moment, and shook his head. "I don't think so. No, wait. Something tried to get into my room last night. There are marks on my window ledge." Jonas replied.

"Really? It hardly seems possible that anything could climb up to the window Mr. Quinn."

"I know how it seems, but I'm telling you, there are marks at my window." Jonas replied sternly.

"Are you certain?"

"Positive!" Jonas exclaimed.

"We will be back later in the day to investigate, until then, remain near incase we have any more questions." The man replied and with a nod of his head walked off to where the body was being loaded.

"I don't think he believes me." Jonas replied, turning to O'Neill.

"Of course he does, but he just isn't doing a good job at showing it." Jack assured him.

"Colonel, thanks for being here for the questioning." Jonas said with a soft smile.

"No problem, but I really didn't do much." Jack stated.

"Actually, you _did_. You showed your support. Thanks." Jonas said honestly.

O'Neill reached over and grabbed Jonas's shoulder.

"I'm glad I could help." Jack answered with a smile, he gripped Jonas's shoulder in a friendly manner and walked away to meet Carter and the others who were standing nearby, watching the situation in front of them.


	8. Evening

**Chapter 8: Evening**

The morning had faded, leaving only foggy memories behind. There wasn't _one_ person who could recall every minute detail of the early day. Even to _Jonas_ it seemed to be nothing, but a blur.

The man that had been promised to Jonas, the one who was supposed to come and take a look at the mutilated window ledge, never showed, and now the day was slowly dwindling away into evening. It wasn't as though Jonas had _expected_ the man to come, he'd sort of guessed there would be no one sent. However, he had _hoped_ that his expectations would be falsely proved. It would've made him feel a lot better.

At the moment, the team of SG-1 was seated around the dining table with food once again placed in front of them. All, but Jonas ate. Jonas found his mind to be in a different place completely. He had absolutely _no_ interest in food at this time.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud! Jonas, will you _please_ eat something?" Colonel O'Neill asked, casting Jonas a desperate glance.

"I can't, Colonel. I'm not hungry." Jonas sighed.

"Not hungry? Jonas, you _have_ to be hungry! You haven't eaten _anything_ since before we left the SGC."

"I know that, but I'm really _not_ hungry. Colonel, the thought of food doesn't even _appeal_ to my senses."

"That's different, but _humor_ me! You have to eat _something_, I don't care if it's just a slice of _bread_, just _eat_!" O'Neill replied, and to reinforce his point he grabbed a slice of bread from a nearby platter, and shoved it in Jonas's direction.

Jonas took the bread, looked at it wearily, turned his attention to Colonel O'Neill, who was eyeing him expectantly, sighed and began to absently nibble at the crust.

O'Neill looked satisfied, at least he drew his attention away from _Jonas_, and focused back on _his_ plate. Jonas sighed in relief and placed the unfinished bread on his still clean plate. Major Carter saw Jonas's actions and gave him a warning glance. Guiltily, Jonas gathered the bread again, and began to chew on it, eyes cast down to the tabletop.

After a few more bites, he once again placed the bread on the plate. He began to push the plate away, when he felt a strong hand grab his arm. Looking up, he saw Teal'c watching him.

"Did O'Neill not instruct you to finish the bread, Jonas Quinn?" Teal'c questioned. Jack looked up at the mention of his name.

"Yes, Colonel O'Neill _did_ instruct him to finish his bread." Jack said simply.

Jonas cast Teal'c an exasperated look, and once again resumed eating, this time finishing the entire slice, while all of SG-1's eyes were turned toward him.

"Thank you." Jack said after Jonas looked up expectantly.

"Can I go now?" Jonas asked, he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. He was feeling slightly uncomfortable with everyone staring at him.

"Go where?" Johnston asked, coming into the room, a relaxed smile on his face.

"I'm going to go for a walk." Jonas said, pushing himself from the chair.

"Be sure to return before dark. You have approximately one hour before the night comes." Johnston said.

"I will." Jonas said, and made a quick break for the front door. He was well aware of the eyes boring into his back as he went.

Through the front doors, and into the yard, his feet striking the stone pathway as he went, sent echoes hauntingly twisting around him. Jonas looked over toward where the Stargate was, he could just barely make out the stone ring in the fading daylight. The sun, which blazed brightly in the sky all day, was now settling in fro the night, sinking down behind the mountains in the distance, and the lack of sunlight caused shadows to stretch eerily across the yard.

Behind him, he heard somebody coming, and when he turned, he was greeted by a smiling Colonel O'Neill.

"Do you feel like taking a walk with me, Jonas?" Jack asked.

"Sure, where are we going?" Jonas asked.

"I have to make radio contact with General Hammond, before he sends out SG-8, or somebody to search for us." Jack replied.

Jonas nodded, sure, he was up for a walk, and he hated to admit it, but he felt safer, knowing that Colonel O'Neill was going to be accompanying him. He followed Colonel O'Neill toward the Stargate. It would take them no more than fifteen minutes to get there, maybe ten minutes to talk to the General, and another fifteen minutes to get back. Forty minutes, good they'd still have twenty minutes left of daylight. There was lots of time yet, nothing to worry about.

With that extra addition of reassurance, Jonas felt incredibly safe as he followed Colonel O'Neill toward the gate. There was no way that he was going to stay out after dark, not after what had been happening around the town, and the experiences he'd had since arriving. He trusted the darkness about as much as he would trust a Goa'uld. All things considered, that trust was very slim, and he was determined to be inside, with the doors and windows locked at the time that the night fell.


	9. Locked Out

**Chapter 9: Locked Out**

"A night murderer? Colonel, are you _sure_?" Hammond asked quickly, his voice sounding worried.

"A walking shadow thing actually. It's not very friendly." Jack corrected.

"Colonel, I want you and your team to return home immediately. I don't trust leaving you there." Hammond replied.

"No can do, General, as much as we'd _love_ to, we can't." Jack said.

"Why not?"

"Well you see, Jonas kinda found a dead guy outside his window." Jack announced.

"Why would _that_ stop you? I suspect it's already been taken care of?"

"Yes Sir, but they want Jonas to stick around, and I am _not_ going to leave him here alone, General."

"How long do they want him to stay?"

"Well, we don't really know, the detective told him to stay close incase they had more questions." O'Neill replied.

"Surely they don't think that _Jonas_ had anything to do with it, do they?" Hammond asked quickly.

"Not that I know of, but that detective guy seemed awfully suspicious of him."

Hammond was silent.

"Fine, you have until tomorrow, then you are to come back." Hammond replied, his voice sounding a bit agitated, if not nervous.

"We'll be there General, but we should really be going now, it's nearly dark. We've still got a fifteen-minute walk ahead of us. We don't feel like meeting up with any living shadows." O'Neill said.

"Very well, Colonel. Go, and please, be careful!"

"We always are, Sir." Jack said and ended the transmission.

The sky had turned a dark blue shade, and the sun was no longer visible. There was just enough light to say that night hadn't fully fallen yet.

"C'mon Jonas, let's get going." O'Neill replied and took the lead, his hand hanging next to his gun, ready to grab the weapon if the need presented itself.

Jonas didn't argue, and he eagerly followed O'Neill back. Just as they entered the village limits, movement in the shadows caught their attention, then came a low, throaty moan.

"Faster, Jonas!" Jack hissed, and began to jog. Jonas followed him.

By now, the dark had fully fallen, and shadows stretched out all around the two men, running through the pale moonlight. The conversation with General Hammond had taken longer than expected, nearly twenty minutes, because the General wanted every bit of information about what SG-1 had walked into.

The moan sounded from closer behind, nearly on top of Jonas, and the men pushed themselves that much harder in order to escape the thing coming after them. When they finally reached the palace, they instantly hurried to the door, only to find that it was locked up tight.

"_Bastard_! He locked us out!" Jack exclaimed.

Jonas's eyes grew wide as he heard rustling behind him.

"Open the damn door!" Jack yelled, there was no answer, and O'Neill released a string of colorful curses as he pounded on the door.

"Let us in, Johnston, we've got a very angry _thing_ on our tails!" Jack yelled again, this time he was awarded with the sounds of speaking coming from behind the locked door.

"_We can't leave them out there to get killed!"_ That was Sam's voice, desperately pleading.

"_The shadow is following them. If I were to open the door, it would surely get in and kill us all."_ Johnston, his voice sounded slightly regretful and frightened.

"_Open the door, or I will open it myself."_ Teal'c replied firmly.

"_You cannot!"_ Johnston yelled.

"_I can."_ Teal'c replied.

There was movement behind them once again, and O'Neill beat on the door, harder this time.

"Damn it, Johnston, do you want our murders on your conscience?" Jack yelled.

"_Let them in, that _thing's_ going to kill them!" _Sam yelled.

Silence from Johnston.

"Open the door,_ please_!" Jonas called to those who were hearing his pleas.

"_Stand aside." _Teal'c replied, there sounded as if there was slight resistance, and then the sounds of the bolts were heard as they were slid out of the way, and the door unlatched.

Movement behind them again, much closer, and there was a slight snarl. Jonas turned just in time to be sideswiped by something_ very_ heavy. He went down, and brought a hand up to where he'd been struck. His fingertips came away, stained with his blood. Whatever had struck him had left a gash in his upper right arm. He raised his head to stare into the red eyes of the walking shadow.

"Colonel!" Jonas yelled for help.

Jack turned around to see Jonas sprawled on the ground in front of the shadow creature.

The door behind Jack was opened, and Teal'c stood there, holding the door back, despite the resistance from Johnston.

Jack quickly drew his gun and fired at the thing hovering in front of Jonas. He knew the shots wouldn't kill it, but perhaps they would _stun_ it, giving Jonas enough time to get away.

The shot hit, and the thing lurched forward, falling into a heap on the ground, Jonas rolling out of the way just in time.

"Come on, Jonas!" Jack yelled, rushing to help the young man to his feet. As the creature stirred, Jack pulled Jonas inside, and Teal'c slammed the door, sliding the bolts back into place.

All eyes turned to Jonas.

"Are you hurt?" Sam asked, her eyes locked onto his face.

" It hit me, and I've been cut. It's not too bad though." Jonas replied, pulling a bloodstained hand away from an open wound on his upper right arm.

Sam instantly went to him and took a close look at the wound. There were three cuts, about three inches in length apiece, and each one was bleeding freely.

"It's deep, Jonas. We should get it cleaned up." She replied.

Jonas nodded and took a few steps, meaning to follow her, but he was instantly stopped, when a wave of dizziness washed over him. The sounds around him drowned away to near nothing, and were only foggy echoes in his ears. He swayed a bit, and held up a hand, brushing Sam's shoulder as he did so. She turned to him and her eyes grew wide.

The dizziness increased, and Jonas sunk to the ground, landing harshly. Everyone dropped next to him and he saw mouths moving, but all he could hear was a dull humming in his ears.

The next thing he knew, he felt himself falling backwards. He felt somebody's hands catch him, and tilted his head to see who it was. He saw a concerned looking Colonel O'Neill speaking to him. Still he heard nothing, and slipped further into darkness, the last thing he recalled was Colonel O'Neill tapping his cheek in an attempt to rouse him. An attempt that was unsuccessful.

**A/N: Sorry about the Jonas bashing, but I couldn't resist. I'll try to refrain myself from it in later chapters, but there will be no promises. Sorry!**


	10. Marked

**A/N: Thanks for all of the great reviews, I appreciate it. Keep them coming. (ANS4Christ) Of course I missed your reviews. Is my writing incredibly predictable, or do you have some freaky telepathic mind reading thing going on? Once again, you're correct in the direction I'm taking this. I promise I won't be overly horrible to Jonas, but he's so fun to bash, don't you think? Thanks again, and I look forward to everyone's reviews. On with the story.**

**Chapter 10: Marked**

There were far off sounds, familiar voices that couldn't be understood. Jonas was trapped in the world between consciousness and darkness, and he was fighting to awaken. There was a sharp pain setting in his right arm, it felt as though the muscles were being continuously twisted, and the bones constantly rubbing against each other. He gritted his teeth, trying his best to bear the pain, and continued to fight his way to consciousness.

Finally, he felt himself breaking through the barrier that had been holding him under, and he charged to surface. The voices around him became clearer, and he could catch bits and pieces of phrases and words. The pain in his arm was excruciating, but he tried to ignore it, and slowly opened his heavy eyelids.

The first thing he saw was nothing, but blurred images, merging together to make . . . nothing. At least nothing that made sense. Jonas blinked rapidly to clear the images, and it worked. The sights around him softened and finally cleared. He saw Colonel O'Neill watching him anxiously, and the others were doing much the same thing. Johnston looked on in confusion, his jaw working in overtime.

"How is this possible? I do not understand. Your friend should be dead." Johnston said.

"Jonas has a way of _beating_ the odds, and I'm not complaining about it." O'Neill replied as an aside to Johnston.

"How are you feeling, Jonas?" Sam asked gently.

"I've been better." Jonas replied his voice scratchy and painful in his throat. He grimaced slightly and accepted the glass of water that Teal'c held out for him.

"Thanks." Jonas replied, after he'd taken a small drink of the liquid.

"You are most welcome." Teal'c nodded.

Jonas smiled, and turned to face Colonel O'Neill. Jack was slowly making his way toward him.

"_Now_, how are you feeling?" O'Neill asked simply.

"Tired, but better." Jonas answered.

"Do you remember what happened?" Sam questioned him.

"I'm presuming I was scratched by the walking shadow." Jonas stated.

"You were not only scratched, but you were _marked_. I do not know how you survived. By all standards, you should be dead." Johnston replied.

"Thanks." Jonas said, allowing a slight amount of sarcasm to enter his voice.

Johnston looked at him in confusion, and Jonas only smiled slightly, shrugging the comment off. Jonas yawned, and felt his eyes getting heavy.

"It is very late, we should go to bed." Johnston said.

"That sounds like a good idea," Jack began.

Jonas nodded, as did all others present.

"C'mon, Jonas, I'll escort you to your room." O'Neill finished.

"Sure." Jonas replied, and carefully sat up, closing his eyes as pain dashed down his arm.

"You okay?" O'Neill questioned.

"My arm hurts a little, but other than that I'm fine." Jonas admitted, looking down to where Sam had cleaned and bandaged his right arm.

"Come on, you'll feel better after you get some rest." O'Neill replied, grabbing Jonas's left hand and helping him to his feet.

Jonas allowed himself to be led up to his room.

"How long was I out?" Jonas asked Jack as they climbed the stairs.

"A little more than three hours, I think. To be truthful, I wasn't really keeping time. You really scared us. It's a good thing you can beat the crap out of the odds, Jonas. I wouldn't want to lose you. You're too important to the team." O'Neill replied, opening the door to Jonas's room.

"Thank you, Colonel. That means a lot." Jonas said.

"It's only the truth, Jonas." O'Neill told him as he watched the young man slip off his boots and turn the blankets of the bed down.

"Still." Jonas replied quietly as he lay down, pulling the blankets up to his chest.

"Good night, Jonas. Get some sleep, and I'll see you in the morning." Jack said, and left the room, shutting the door on the way out, before going to his own room.

A few hours later, O'Neill awoke to an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Quietly, he got up and turned to the window. The night outside had fallen thick, and there were no stars and no moon in sight. The only things he could see were dark clouds passing by.

He slowly reached for the bedside lamp and hit the switch. A dull light flooded the darkened room, and O'Neill looked suspiciously around. His gaze once again turned to the window, and he saw that the lock was undone. Cursing in relief under his breath, he was thankful that nothing had happened, and he rushed to the window to lock it. A lone click echoed through the large room, and Jack sighed in gratefulness.

"Wait." He spoke aloud. His mind wandered to Jonas, and he realized that he hadn't checked to see if the young man's window was shut and locked, before he left.

"Damn it!" O'Neill exclaimed, and all but ran to Jonas's room.

As he drew nearer to the door, he found that there was a feeling of dread in his throat. Quickly, he threw the door open and stared in horror at the room before him. The bed sheets were wrinkled and tossed in a ball on the ground, the mattress was overturned, and the bedside table knocked over, the lamp shattering upon impact with the floor. His eyes darted to the sidewall, where the window stood wide open, staring at him blankly, as if taunting him in gay delight.

Jonas was nowhere in sight.


	11. Taken

**Chapter 11: Taken**

O'Neill cursed freely, and ran to the window. He looked out into the yard, and saw nothing; his eyes crossed the grounds, and rested on the forest. The woods were nothing, but a black blotch against the dark night, he couldn't see _anything_.

His stomach churned, and he had to look away from the forest to keep himself in control. The thought of Jonas being taken by that _thing_ made him sick. He only hoped that Jonas _hadn't_ been taken, he only hoped that the young man had suspected the creature's coming and got out. However, the state of the room made that possibility seem incredibly unlikely.

Without a word, he ran to Carter's door, and beat on it wildly for a few seconds, until he heard a sound from within. Seconds later, a sleepy looking Carter opened the door, rubbing her eyes to banish the feeling of sleep. When she saw Colonel O'Neill, she ceased her actions and her eyes immediately widened as she saw the frightened look on his face.

"Sir? What's wrong?" She asked, and her voice was raspy from just waking up.

"It's got Jonas." Jack said, and that was all he needed to say, for she immediately picked up on what he meant.

"How?" Sam asked.

"His window wasn't shut. It had to have climbed in through there." Jack stated.

"Sir, his window is on the second floor, how is that possible?"

"I dunno, but he's gone."

"Colonel, we have to find him." Sam said sternly.

"I plan on it. Right now. Come on, I'm going to go and get Teal'c." Jack replied.

"I'll be right there, Sir." Sam answered quickly, not even offering to argue. Jonas was missing, and she was determined to help find him.

After all members of SG-1 were awake and ready to go, they instantly set out for the forest, toting flashlights along with them to light the way.

They weren't going to deny that they were slightly frightened. At least Jack and Sam were a bit frightened, Teal'c didn't seem to be bothered by it, he was as stoic as ever.

They crept quietly outside, their feet hitting the stone yard, sent haunting echoes throughout the silent night.

O'Neill trained his flashlight on the yard ahead of him, while Sam swept hers from right to left. Teal'c did the same. As they neared the forest outside of Jonas's window, Jack's light revealed a fresh path through the brush. A path which looked to have been caused by something dragging, Jonas, perhaps?

O'Neill shuddered to think of it, and instead turned his flashlight toward the path. With a deep breath, he dared to step inside the forest. Immediately everything seemed to change. He air took on a sorrow-like quality, loaded with feelings of menace and malignance. He knew right away that something wasn't right in this forest. He had the notion to turn and run back to the palace as fast as he could and lock the door behind him, but when he thought of Jonas, that notion immediately evaporated and he pressed on.

An hour of walking later, O'Neill halted and listened to see if he could hear anything. There was nothing, not even the faint, high-pitched hum that usually accompanied silence. The forest had no sounds whatsoever, and the air sheltered them in thick silence, a silence that seemed almost too silent to be real. The only thing that any of them heard was the beat of their hearts, and the rush of blood in their ears.

A dense mist settled on the forest floor, quilting the ground and looking almost as though something could creep through it at any time and none of them would even know something hid in the mist until it was too late. The only thing that seemed clearly visible was the dragging path; the path broke through the mist in a jagged pattern, and seemed to go on for an eternity.

Colonel O'Neill listened to the deep silence once again, heard nothing and moved on, the others falling into formation behind him. None could see how far the path stretched, and there was no telling where it would lead them in the end. Still they walked on into the mist and the haunting shadows that threatened to overtake them.

A faint snapping of twigs burst through the silence, and SG-1 stopped instantly, all hearing the noise. The snapping sounded to be coming from ahead of them, far ahead of them; it was merely a faint noise in the darkness.

O'Neill motioned for Carter and Teal'c to pick up speed, and he jogged stealthily after the sounds, following them, no matter where they took him. The path under his feet zigzagged in crazy patterns, but O'Neill followed it almost as if it were a straight line, never missing a turn or a switch in direction.

When at last they drew near enough to hear the snapping clearly, Jack stopped to scan the forest ahead of him. Through the mist, he saw a shadowy form ambling slowly along, something dragging behind it. O'Neill was tempted to start shooting, but resisted, he was too far back, and he'd never be able to hit the target.

As the form got further away, O'Neill once again followed after it, jogging silently, the mist flowing behind him like a great, long cape. The figure stopped, and turned back, in the mist, O'Neill saw the evil red of watching eyes, eyes that searched and nearly found him, but didn't. As Jack and the others watched, the shadow drug its catch through an opening in the trees and vanished. SG-1 followed.


	12. No Escape

**Chapter 12: No Escape**

Carefully, Colonel O'Neill led the way through the opening that the shadowy form had just walked through. He swept his flashlight around, and when he saw nothing, he sighed, both in relief and in frustration, his eyes wandered around the clearing and he visibly winced.

The place looked like something out of a horror movie. The mist carpeted the ground, while the trees were a deadened, grey colour. The thin branches seemed to be reaching for them, while something resembling cobwebs was draped from tree to tree, rustling quietly in the slight breeze that now gusted about.

"I wish I'd brought a stake and cross." Jack replied quietly, a slight smile resting on his lips.

"For what purpose would you require those items, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, clearly not understanding.

"A safety precaution." Jack said simply.

Carter locked a wide-eyed gaze on her CO, surely he wasn't thinking about vampires. That was impossible, there was no such thing. No such thing back on _her_ planet. Not that she knew of anyway, but here, here, _anything_ could be possible, and she didn't like the idea of such a thing.

The quick, steady beat of her heart, thudded loudly in her ears, and she drew in a shaking breath. Her eyes darted around the area, and there was no sign of anything, the only thing that suggested something had passed by recently was the path that had been left by whatever the shadow had been dragging. The path sliced through the thick fog, almost beckoning for them to follow. It was a challenge, the walking shadow had issued them a challenge, it had left a path, and the path led to what could only be explained as a nightmare. A world so full of horror that Sam didn't think she _wanted_ to follow, but she knew they had to. All of them had to, for Jonas's sake.

They could only hope that the path didn't lead to their deaths, they could only hope that the shadow wasn't waiting for them, but somehow, she _felt_ that it was. It was the only explanation for the misty path; the thing had to be _expecting_ them to come after Jonas.

* * *

He was being dragged. He felt the ground passing beneath him, the stones ripping into his clothing and scraping his limp arms. He was being pulled by the collar of his shirt, and he felt the ground digging into his back where the shirt was not protecting.

He moved his head, and it felt heavy, he craned his neck until he could see whatever was pulling him along. He could only see a shadow in the darkness, nothing that could be identified. Whatever was dragging him must've detected his movement, for it stopped and turned toward him. What Jonas saw next was something that would haunt his dreams for a very long time.

Two eyes, glowing red, brimmed with yellow stared down at him, the pupils were merely black pinpoints within the glowing evil. In the shadows, the thing smiled a harsh smile that could only be explained as malevolent, sharp teeth glittered at him.

He was frozen, he couldn't move, something willed him not to. His mind wanted to go, but his body protested. Finally he tore his gaze away from the thing that had him so transfixed.

Jonas struggled wildly; he wanted to escape the grasp of whatever this thing was! He managed to wrench free and scurried to his feet, he ran, his breath rasping in his chest, while his heart pounded against his ribs. Every part of his body hurt, his muscles felt like they were on fire, and his legs felt heavy, his knees were stiff and achy. He must've been out for a long time for his body to respond in this way, maybe a couple of hours.

He wasn't sure what had happened, he didn't even really remember much of anything after Colonel O'Neill had led him up to bed. He had fallen asleep almost instantly, only to be awakened later by a scraping sound at his window. He recalled opening his eyes and turning to the window, seeing it open, and jumping from bed in a hurry to shut it. He remembered reaching the window just as something leapt through and tackled him. After that everything seemed fuzzy, he vaguely remembered yelling for help and he only remembered bits and pieces of the struggle he'd put forth. A struggle which he had clearly lost.

He was still running, he didn't know which direction he was running in, but he was running, and the terrible grinning shadow was only feet behind him. His foot caught in the twisted root of a tree, and he pitched forward, landing in a pained heap on the ground, a yelp escaping into the night.

Seconds later the shadow was on top of him again, screaming and moaning that horrible song. Jonas was roughly rolled onto his back to stare up into the terrifying eyes of the walking shadow. Once again, his body froze and refused to move.

"You won't get away with this. My friends will be searching for me." Jonas struggled to speak past a tongue that felt twice its size. His voice sounded thick and hollow in the darkness.

"Let them come. I am not afraid to do to them what I have done to all others of this town." The thing spoke, its voice was deep and snarly, and echoed inside Jonas's head almost, as though it hadn't spoken at all. Jonas's gaze was still transfixed on the eyes that watched him with so much evil, eyes that seemed to do all the creatures' speaking for it. Jonas didn't need to hear words to realize that this thing wouldn't stop until they were all dead.

There was a glint of light in the night, and then a split second later, he felt something rip through the stomach of his T-shirt, cutting into the flesh underneath. The same feeling that had come over him back at the palace after being cut by the thing once again swept over him. This time however, the effects were quicker. He almost immediately felt the dark spinning around him, and all sounds drowned out to nothing, but a hum. He felt himself passing over into darkness once again, but this time, Colonel O'Neill wasn't there to try and rouse him.

"Yes, let them come. Let them take you if they can, you will not be able to escape me." The shadow snarled again. It grabbed Jonas's shirt collar, and dragged him along.

* * *

"That thing has to be around here somewhere. It can't have gotten far." Jack muttered to himself

At that instant, he heard a struggle taking place up ahead of them, at least he thought it was a struggle. He heard something hit the ground and yell, the shout sounding curiously like Jonas. Seconds later he heard the screaming of the shadow creature that had attacked him earlier that night, followed by silence a few moments after.

"This way." Jack said quickly, and ran in the direction of the sounds. Sam and Teal'c followed without even the slightest hesitation.

He saw the shadow form ahead, dragging something behind it, that something looking exactly like Jonas. Upon closer inspection, O'Neill saw that it _was_ Jonas, no doubts about it.

"There." O'Neill whispered harshly, he turned out his light and advanced with only the aid of Carter's light, which was hidden behind her shielding hand.

Jack drew the gun from his side and aimed it in the beam of the flashlight. He caught sight of the shadow figure and fired. His shot made a direct hit and the thing released Jonas, and fell forward.

"I got it, let's go and get Jonas before it decides to wake up." Jack sated and once again turned on his light.

He ran toward where Jonas was lying, and shone his light down on the young man. Jonas's chest rose and fell steadily, and O'Neill sighed in relief, but that relief turned to a long string of colourful curses when he saw the long, bleeding gash in Jonas's stomach. A gash that had definitely come from the creature, for it looked exactly like the cut on Jonas's arm.

"Let's get him outta here." Jack said, and knelt to gather Jonas's still form in his arms.


	13. Escaping the Grasps of Evil

**Chapter 13: Escaping the Grasps of Evil**

"We are going home first thing in the morning! I'm not staying here any longer." Jack exclaimed, gently placing Jonas over his shoulder for easier carrying.

The metallic smell of blood assaulted O'Neill's nose as he led the way, Jonas's blood. He could feel it seeping through his own shirt, but ignored it. They were getting out of these woods!

"Hold on Jonas, we're almost there." Jack replied to the unconscious man, knowing very well that his words couldn't be heard, but the mere act of speaking to Jonas, made him feel a little better.

About halfway back to the palace, Teal'c took over Jonas's weight to allow O'Neill a break. Jack gave the young man up willingly; Jonas was much harder to carry than one would think. He rotated his aching shoulder after making sure Jonas was safely in Teal'c's care.

Behind them, Jack heard the scream of the creature and heard the snapping of branches as it rushed after them. The shot couldn't have forced it under for long. It had to have been following them for the better part of the trek to be this close.

He shoved Teal'c in the lead, and hung back with Major Carter. The creature was just about on top of them when Jack shouted the word 'run!'

Slightly behind him, he heard Carter yelp as she was tackled by the thing, and turned back in time to see it hovering threateningly over Sam. Teal'c looked back in shock.

"Keep going, Teal'c! Get Jonas back!" O'Neill yelled.

Teal'c hesitated, but a glance at the unconscious man in his arms changed his mind, and he followed orders.

Jack turned back to Carter, quickly and saw her struggling wildly beneath the shadowy figure.

"Hey!" O'Neill yelled, aiming his gun. The creature looked up, and O'Neill fired, catching it squarely in the chest. It went down, writhing, and lay still, while Carter lay panting to its left.

Jack quickly ran to where Sam lay and knelt next to her, pulling her toward him. Her eyes were wide and frightened, but at the sight of Jack, they calmed slightly.

"Are you okay? Did it cut you?" Jack asked, his voice seeping with concern.

Sam shook her head.

"No sir, I wouldn't let it get close enough." She smiled.

"It looked pretty close to me." Jack replied and continued to support her back, not offering to let go.

"It was close enough." Sam said.

"Yeah." Jack said and pulled her gently to her feet. For good measure, he turned back to the thing and fired three more shots.

"Hopefully _that_ will keep it out of commission long enough for us to get back and lock everything up." Jack said.

"Yes, sir." Sam agreed.

O'Neill led her forward, casting continuous glances back over his shoulder to see if the thing had moved yet. When satisfied that it wasn't moving for a while, O'Neill nodded and began to jog, Sam following him.

* * *

When Sam and Jack finally reached the edge of the forest, they saw Teal'c carrying Jonas toward the front door. Inside, there was a light burning through the window, and at the door, someone opened it for Teal'c and quickly led he and Jonas inside.

The other two members of SG-1 got to the door shortly after and found it was still being held open. Sam looked up into the eyes of one of Johnston's butlers, and saw a clear flood of relief pass across the serious face. The door was shut and locked behind them, and the candle taken from the windowsill.

The butler led Sam and Jack after Teal'c, into the parlor, where the Jaffa carefully placed Jonas on the nearest couch. Sam went to the young man's side and inspected the wound. The wound was worse than the first, it was packed full of dirt, and the skin around the cut was already turning an ugly red shade. She called for the disinfectant and went about cleaning and dressing the fresh injury.

When that was finished, she followed Teal'c up to Jonas's room, where the young man was placed on the bed, and the sheet pulled up to his chin.

Colonel O'Neill immediately went to the open window and shut it with a slam, locking it in place. He tested his work, nodded in approval and made his way back to where Jonas lay on his freshly made bed. The butler had put the room back together, after he realized what had happened.

"You are all very fortunate. I was not sure you would return." The man replied with a slight accent to his words.

"You aren't gonna get rid of us _that_ easy." Jack said with a smile.

"That is good to hear. You should return to your rooms and get some rest. I'll keep watch over Jonas." The butler replied.

"Nah, that's okay. I think I'd like to stay and keep an eye on him as well." Jack said, sitting lightly on the edge of the bed.

"Very well, but the rest of you should get some rest. I will be around the palace somewhere." The butler responded.

After a nod of okay from Jack, the other members of SG-1 returned to their rooms and after making sure everything was locked up, went back to bed.


	14. Home

**Chapter 14: Home**

His mind was filled with fog when he first came around. He opened his eyes and squinted into the fading darkness. There was the soft light of early morning flickering through his window, his closed window. He breathed a sigh of relief at the realization, both because it was daylight, and because his window was safely shut.

He cast a gaze around his room once more, and saw the form of Colonel O'Neill sleeping soundly in the chair near the desk, his head resting on his crossed arms atop the table. Jonas resisted the urge to move, because he didn't wish to wake O'Neill. The older man looked completely worn out, sleep was likely the best thing for him at the present moment.

Slowly, Jonas struggled from bed, his entire body protesting as he did so. He quietly made his way past the sleeping Colonel and out into the hall, shutting the door silently behind him. He heard shuffling coming from downstairs and leaned over the banister to get a better look. As he did so, the wound across his stomach protested, and he drew in a sharp, pained gasp.

Commotion downstairs, then footsteps, hurrying up the stairs. Jonas turned in time to see a butler headed his way, a look of concern etched on his face.

"Sir, you should not be up and about." The butler replied sternly.

Jonas shook his head. "Please, I'm fine." He replied, batting away the butler's helping hand.

"You have had two encounters with the walking shadow in a single night.You are far from fine. Look at yourself. You look terrible. Please, just go back and rest." The butler replied, taking in Jonas's haggard appearance.

"No, I can't. Please, just let me go downstairs. I want a drink of water." Jonas stated and brushed, gently past the butler.

"As you wish." Was the reply that Jonas received, and the butler stepped out of his way, but followed him down to the kitchen, where he prepared a glass of water for Jonas, casting anxious glances to the young man as he downed the cold liquid. Jonas returned the butler's glances,wearily over the lip of the glass and sighed. He was _fine_.

* * *

Up in Jonas's room, Colonel O'Neill came awake with a start, and he quickly lifted his head from the desk and turned it to see Jonas's empty bed. His heart beat harshly in his chest, and he stood, knocking the chair over in the process. 

He ran to the door and threw it open.

"Jonas?" He called, his voice echoing through the large home.

"Jonas, where are you?" Jack called once again.

There were footsteps on the stairs and Jack turned to see Jonas mounting the landing. A look of alarm on his face.

"Colonel?" Jonas asked, his voice slightly startled by the look of utter terror in Colonel O'Neill's eyes.

"Jonas!" Jack called in relief, his expression relaxing.

"I'm fine, Colonel, really." Jonas replied, walking to where O'Neill stood.

"You don't know how _glad_ I am to hear you say that." Jack sighed simply.

Sam and Teal'c wandered into the hall, after hearing Colonel O'Neill's desperate shouts.

"Uh, good morning?" Jonas attempted, seeing the look of disbelief on the two faces that had just appeared.

Sam smiled gently and walked toward him. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Not bad." Jonas replied.

Sam searched his face for any sign of lying, and when she found none, she smiled again.

"We are _so_ going home! We're leaving right _now._" Jack yelled.

He quickly stormed out and left a message with the butler for Johnston when the head of the house awakened. The butler swore that he would give the message to him, and walked the team to the gate.

Carter dialed home and the gate roared to life, the blue puddle springing from deep within the centre of the stone ring. When it had settled back into place, Jack literally _pushed_ Jonas through, following him to be sure he got to the other side safely.

Jonas felt the shove on his back and the moment he entered the gate, something felt wrong. The wormhole slashed at him, and felt as though it was driving hot spikes through his wounds. He drew in a sharp breath and before he knew it, he was staggering out the other side into the gate room at the SGC. He walked slowly to the base of the ramp, the room spinning around him, while his stomach flipped sickeningly. He sat down hard on the ramp and waited for the other members of SG-1 to come through.

General Hammond entered the gate room and saw that his lead team had once again returned in one piece, aside from the tear in Jonas's shirt that showed a dressed injury through it and the white bandage on his upper right arm.

"Welcome back, SG-1." Hammond spoke and then saw Jonas's paled face.

"Jonas, are you feeling okay, son?" Hammond asked, kneeling in front of the younger man.

"Not really." Jonas admitted.

"What seems to be the trouble?"

"I, I don't know." Jonas replied and shook his head as if to clear it. The young man smiled and locked eyes with Hammond.

"Never mind, General. Guess I just got a bit of a head rush. It's fine now."

"Ah yes, that can sometimes happen." Jack spoke dryly from behind him, but his voice sounded unconvinced.

"Do you want me to call up Doctor Fraser?" Hammond asked, eyeing Jonas suspiciously.

Jonas shook his head. "No, that's okay. I'm fine, really. I'll go and see her later." Jonas replied and pushed himself to his feet.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Sir." Jonas said.

"Very well, we'll debrief in an hour. Don't be late." Hammond said and walked out of the gate room, with a final glance back at Jonas.


	15. Getting Out

**Chapter 15: Getting Out**

The debriefing was classic, it never seemed to change. All members of SG-1 sat around the table, while General Hammond sat at the head, facing them. He watched the team anxiously; not quite sure where to begin, and hoping that Colonel would say _something_ to break the silence that hung over the room like a thick cloud.

Ten minutes into the briefing, General Hammond was still trying to find a way to start the meeting, by this point the attention spans of his flag team had pretty much dwindled away to nothing. Colonel O'Neill was rubbing absently at a spot on the table, as though to clean it, while the others seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, unable to take the silence any longer Hammond said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I understand you ran into some difficulties on the mission, Colonel?" Hammond asked, Jack started, his chair grinding against the floor with his movement.

"Difficulties, yes. That is if you want to call being stalked by a murderous shadow, difficulties." Jack said loudly.

"About that, why don't you tell me how you came to find out about this shadow." Hammond said.

"The locals told us. Something about people being afraid to go out after dark, and a bunch of murders. Then we found out the town legend, wasn't a legend at all. It had truth to it." Jack explained, his gaze wandering to where Jonas sat, seemingly deep in thought.

"You _saw_ this creature take a hostage?" Hammond questioned.

"Sure did, and it wasn't pretty. Jonas saw the after effects." Jack answered.

Jonas didn't even look up at his name; he looked as though he hadn't been hearing a word of what had just been said. His gaze was locked on an empty spot in the room, and the look on his face showed that a deep thought process was taking place.

"Jonas?" Jack inquired.

There was no response.

"Jonas? Are you with us?" Jack called, his voice louder.

Nothing.

Jack crumpled a piece of paper and expertly tossed it, the paper glanced off of Jonas's left cheek and the young man snapped out of his reverie with a short yelp. His eyes searched the room and locked on Colonel O'Neill's innocently smiling face.

"You must've been thinking some hard." Jack replied in amazement.

Jonas's face screwed into an expression of confusion and puzzlement.

"What?" He asked simply.

"You've been thinking again, Jonas. How many times have I warned you about that? You think and you just zone out. I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes." O'Neill said accusingly.

"Sorry, Colonel. I didn't hear you." Jonas replied.

"Yeah, we noticed that."

Jonas firmly placed his elbow on the table, and leaned his head forward to show he was listening.

"Good, now how about you tell General Hammond _your_ account of that planet." O'Neill said.

"Of course." Jonas stated and went on to explain his thoughts precisely as he recalled them. At the end of his story, all eyes were turned to him and Jack was blinking rapidly.

"Colonel?" Jonas asked.

"You left out the part where I saved you from that nasty detective." O'Neill said, a look of mock hurt on his face.

"No sir, I explained it." Jonas confirmed.

"Ah, then I must not have been listening." Jack said simply. Jonas cast him a disbelieving glance and O'Neill shrugged.

Across the table, Jonas winced as though he'd just experienced a shock of pain. Jack tilted his head to the side, a puzzled glance pasted on his face.

"Jonas? You okay?" Sam asked, also catching the wince.

Jonas nodded quickly, he'd felt a momentary jolt of pain through both of his wounds, but the discomfort had quickly passed, and he was feeling now as though nothing had happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He stated.

"You sure? You don't _look_ fine." Jack said.

"Really, Colonel, I'm fine." Jonas assured him and shifted uncomfortably in his chair, all eyes were focused on him, and it made him slightly uncomfortable.

"I think that's enough for now, SG-1. I'll let you know what your next assignment will be. Until then, go on home and get some rest. Dismissed." Hammond said and got up from the table. This was ultimately the cue for all others attending the debriefing to get up as well.

"Yes! Home sweet home!" Jack exclaimed, earning amused glances from all others present. O'Neill shrugged again and pushed away from the table, a smile planted firmly on his face.

Chairs scraped across the floor as the remainder of SG-1 got up and exited.

Jonas lingered behind, and filed out after the rest of his team had gone on ahead of him. Up the hall a little way, Colonel O'Neill and the others were awaiting his arrival. All seemed to be in good spirits and Jonas couldn't help, but smile.

"We're going out for dinner, Jonas. Wanna come? I'll drive." O'Neill replied.

"That sounds good. Just let me change first." Jonas replied, motioning to his uniform.

"Yeah, no problem, we've gotta change too. Plus I gotta tell Hammond that I'm taking you aliens off base." Jack smirked, his gaze passing between Teal'c and Jonas. "Meet us at the elevator in a half hour, okay?" Jack finished.

"I'll be there." Jonas smiled and hurried off in the direction of his quarters.

Exactly a half-hour later, all members of SG-1 were on their way to the surface, and they got off of the elevator laughing at a joke that only _they_ would understand. An airman bade them farewell and signed them out.

They stepped out into the late afternoon sun and breathed in the fresh air deeply.

"Where are we going?" Jonas asked, clearly interested.

"A little place on the outskirts of town, Mary's Bake Shop. She makes the best lemon tarts, and her food tastes just like a home-cooked meal." Jack replied with an easy-going smile.

Ten minutes later, all had piled into Jack's truck and were on their way to the outskirts of town. Jonas looked out the window curiously. He didn't get out _nearly_ enough, so whenever the opportunity presented itself, he seized the moment.

* * *

Mary's bakeshop was a little café in an older part of town, and it stood right between a movie rental store and a gift shop. As they got out of the truck and walked across the street, the warm smell of freshly baked bread greeted them merrily.

When the door was opened, a bell sounded throughout the café, catching the attention of all those present. There were about ten others milling about, chatting and eating happily.

The team went in and chose a table near the front, where they had a nice view of the street outside. An older woman with greying, brown hair came quickly to their table, and handed each of them a menu with a cheery smile. She had to have been a few years older than Jack was, maybe more, from the way she looked.

"Thank you." Jonas said.

"Of course! My goodness it's good to see a young man like yourself with such manners, there aren't _nearly_ enough of your type around here." The woman said happily.

"Oh, he's very rare indeed, Mary." Jack said with a smile.

"Jack O'Neill, I haven't seen you around these parts in a few weeks. Where in the world have you been hiding yourself?" Mary questioned Colonel O'Neill.

"In a dungeon." Jack replied shortly.

"Well, it wouldn't surprise me a bit."

"Oh, I think it might." Jack murmured out of the corner of his mouth to Sam, who smiled knowingly.

Mary laughed. Her laughter was hearty and pleasant, and her smile lit up her soft, grey eyes.

"I'll be back in a minute to take your orders." She replied and went off to the next table, where she engaged in a friendly conversation with and older man, who was drinking a cup of coffee.

"Friendly." Jonas mused quietly.

"She sure is." Jack said with a grin.

"You've been here before, Colonel, what would you suggest?" Jonas asked O'Neill who had shoved his menu aside without even opening it.

"Whatever she's making for the special, it's always great."

"Okay."

Mary came back over; still laughing from whatever the man with the coffee had just been talking to her about.

"You folks all ready to order?" She asked happily.

"I think so." Sam said with a soft smile.

"Well then, what'll it be?"

"Colonel O'Neill tells me your specials are usually good, what is it today?" Jonas asked.

"He did, did he?"

Jonas nodded; Mary shook her head in amusement.

"Today's special happens to be roasted chicken with a baked potato and corn." Mary told Jonas.

"Okay, I'll have that, and a white milk, please." Jonas replied.

"Me too, but not milk. I'll have a soda." Jack said, Mary took down the orders and turned to Teal'c and Sam.

"I haven't seen you two around these parts before. You friends of Jack's?" Mary asked.

"Indeed." Teal'c said.

"I'm Samantha Carter." Sam said and held out her hand. Mary took it and shook it in greeting.

"That's Murray." Jack said motioning to Teal'c who nodded in greeting.

"Ah well, pleased to meet ya both, what can I do yas for?"

"I'll just have the special, and a bottle of water, please." Sam replied.

"I as well will have the special and water." Teal'c stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay, it'll just be a few minutes." Mary said and gathered the menus to take them to another table.

"You're gonna _love_ her cooking." Jack assured them with a genuine smile.


	16. Dinner's End

**Chapter 16: Dinner's End**

Dinner passed quickly, and it was enjoyable. When the crowd cleared out, Mary brought four lemon tarts and sat them on the table. SG-1 looked at her in puzzlement; none had ordered a desert.

"What's this?" Jack asked.

"Lemon tarts, what's it look like?" Mary asked with a smile.

"I know _what _they are, but . . . " Jack began.

"You didn't order them. Yeah, I know, I figured I'd do something nice for my favorite customer. They're on the house, freshly made. Maybe it'll give you a reason not to stay away so long next time, Jack." Mary replied.

"Thanks, I was telling them about your lemon tarts before we got here."

"Well, now they have an opportunity to taste them for themselves. Enjoy!" Mary said and took the tray back into the kitchen after SG-1 had taken their tarts.

Jonas bit into the tart and smiled after he'd swallowed.

"These are very good." He said.

"Told ya so." O'Neill replied with triumph.

Sam smiled at O'Neill's behaviour; he was acting like a kid who'd just gotten a 100 percent on a math test.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Sir?" Sam responded.

"You've got that funny look on your face, the look that says you're thinking something, but you don't want to say it." O'Neill said, his eyes narrowing in curiosity.

"No, sir. I wasn't thinking anything."

"Of course you were, you're always thinking about _something_." Jack stated.

Teal'c and Jonas watched the exchange in silence, casting each other curious glances as the bantering continued.

Mary swept from the kitchen then, and came over to the table with an expectant look on her face.

"Well?" She asked. "Are they everything Jack told you they were? Y'know, he tends to exaggerate at times." Mary said, sneaking Jack an amused glance. O'Neill clutched his chest.

"Oh that hurts, Mary. You cut me deep." Jack said dramatically.

"Yes, well, it's only the truth. Now shut your mouth and let your friends talk." Mary teased with a sly smile on her face.

Jack appeared falsely insulted and quieted to allow the others to talk.

"They're very good, Mary." Jonas said, finishing the last bite of his own. Sam and Teal'c nodded in agreement.

"Good to hear." Mary said and pulled a slip from her pocket.

"Now who's gonna pay me?" She teased.

"I've got it, Mary." Jack said holding his hand out.

"Well, perhaps there _is_ a gentleman underneath all that hard air force exterior. Here ya go." Mary handed Jack the slip and the Colonel turned it over.

The bill wasn't expensive, a little more than twenty dollars, and Jack dug the money out of his pocket.

"Thanks, Mary. It was a pleasure, as always." O'Neill said and stood. Mary moved to the cash to deposit the money, and Jack threw a five-dollar bill on the tabletop as a tip.

"Let's go." O'Neill replied. He started toward the door.

"Don't stay away so long this time, Jack!" Mary called.

Jack looked back. "I won't. See you next time, Mary." He called and led the way outside.

Jonas was the last out, and he took a few steps forward and had to grab the open door as the café spun around him. He blinked rapidly a few times, but the dizzy feeling didn't fade.

"You okay, Honey?" Mary called, seeing Jonas reach hurriedly for the door, and sway on his feet. She rushed over to help him, and grabbed him around the waist.

SG-1 stopped their crossing, and looked back to see Mary supporting Jonas around the waist. They hurried back.

"Come on now, just sit down here for a bit. I'll get you a glass of water." Mary replied, easing Jonas into a nearby chair and running to the kitchen.

Jack knelt in front of Jonas, and caught the glassy look in his eyes. As he was focused on Jonas, he visibly saw the color drain from the young man's face.

"Jonas? What's wrong?" Sam asked, also catching the disoriented look that crossed Jonas's face.

Mary came back, holding a large glass of water in her hands. She knelt in front of Jonas and handed him the glass. He took it in shaking hands, and drank from it. Some of the color returned to his face, but not much.

Mary reached a gentle hand to brush across Jonas's cheek, and pulled it back in a hurry.

"Goodness honey, you're burning up!" She said in alarm.

Sam reached over, lay her hand against Jonas's face, and nodded in agreement.

"Murray, would you be a darling and switch the sign to closed, please?" Mary asked, pointing to the sign hooked on the window.

"I will." Teal'c said and got up to flip the sign.

He returned momentarily and pulled up a chair next to Jonas.

There were a few curious faces gathered outside of the window and Mary grabbed Jack's shoulder.

"Let's get him up to my apartment, away from our audience." She replied, pointing to the window.

O'Neill nodded and took the glass from Jonas, while Mary and Sam helped him to his feet and led him up the stairs by the kitchen and into a roomy apartment.

"The living room's just through here." Mary replied, pointing to an archway that opened into a mid-sized room, with a blue coloured couch that stretched against one wall, and a matching love seat and chair nearby. The television stood next to a window which looked down onto the street.

Jonas was led to the couch and gently lowered to it, where Mary pushed him to lean against the back. Jack handed Jonas back the glass of water, and the young man took it gratefully.

A fine sheen of sweat had crept across Jonas's brow, and his eyes looked as though they were having trouble focusing. He blinked rapidly, and kept his eyes closed in an attempt to shut out the dizziness that was overtaking him.

"Jonas?" Sam asked, laying a hand against his cheek. Even before her hand touched him, she felt the heat radiating from his skin.

"Oh, Jonas." Sam said in concern.

"We should probably take him to a doctor." Mary replied, watching, as Jonas's eyelids grew continuously leaden.

"No, I'll call his doctor. She makes house calls. Can I use your phone, Mary?" Jack asked, his face tight with emotion.

"Go right ahead. Tell her to hurry. Jonas isn't looking good." Mary said as Jonas winced at some unseen pain.

Jack nodded and hurried out to where he'd seen the phone when they'd first come in.

Jonas had finished his water, and Mary took the glass and went to the kitchen to refill it for him.

Sam waited for O'Neill to return, and when he did, she looked to Jonas, first looking around to see if Mary was nearby. She wasn't.

"I have to check something, okay?" Sam asked him quietly.

Jonas nodded. He knew what she was going to check. His removed the heavy shirt he'd thrown on before coming. Sam lifted his T-shirt up, and pulled away the bandages.

When the bandages were pulled away, Sam gasped. The scratches, which had been an angry red previously, had turned to a darker red, nearly purple, mixed with an ugly blue colour that Sam didn't like.

"Jonas." Sam said sympathetically.

"My goodness, what _happened_ to him?" Mary's voice came from behind Sam.

Carter jumped, and her face clouded with alarm. She quickly pulled the shirt back over the wound.

Mary set the water aside and reached past Sam to lift Jonas's shirt again, revealing the ugly marks across his stomach.

"What happened?" She asked, looking to Jonas's anxious face.

"Cat, big cat." Jack injected hurriedly.

"A cat did _this_? Well, that hardly seems possible."

"It was a big cat." Sam said, playing off of Jack's cover story.

"That could be a sign of cat scratch fever, then." Mary replied, reaching for the water once again. She pushed it into Jonas's trembling hands.

"Fraser's on her way over." Jack told Sam.

Carter breathed a sigh of relief. A sigh that was cut off by Jonas's harsh intake of breath.

"Jonas?" Mary asked.

"This wound appears to be infected as well." Teal'c's voice replied from Jonas's side. He held the other bandage in his hand and the scratch on Jonas's arm appeared hauntingly similar to the wound on his stomach.

Jonas's face had paled again, and he leaned against the back of the couch, closing his eyes for only a moment to shut out the spinning room. That moment happened to be longer than expected.


	17. Unknown Causes

**Chapter 17: Unknown Causes**

"Jonas?" Called Jack anxiously as he saw the young man's eyes slide shut and not open.

His calls gained no answer and he felt his heart thumping wildly against his ribs. He reached a hand out to place against Jonas's neck, checking for a pulse. By now, Jonas's skin had gone an ashy grey, and the wounds had become increasingly worse since the first inspection. Jack felt a pulse fluttering beneath his touch, slightly quick and irregular, but there was a pulse, and that was something that made him feel better.

At that moment, there was a chiming of bells coming from downstairs, followed by quick, light, footsteps that hurried up the staircase. Major Carter left Jonas, and greeted a concerned doctor Fraser at the apartment door.

"Janet, its Jonas." Sam replied.

"I know. Colonel O'Neill told me over the phone. Sam, I need you to tell me exactly what happened, what symptoms he's been experiencing, and anything that you would find helpful." Fraser replied and her dark eyes were worried.

Sam went on to explain what had happened to Jonas as Fraser checked the young man over.

"Lay him down." Janet instructed.

Her orders were followed without hesitation. Jonas was gently switched from his sitting position to lying on his back; head propped on a large pillow that Mary had gathered from her bedroom.

Fraser continued her medical examination in apprehensive silence. She saw a glimmer of movement in Jonas's face, and saw his eyes open slowly and look to her as though he were having difficulty placing her face. His look was one of vague recollection.

"Jonas? Jonas, can you hear me?" Janet asked gently.

Jonas nodded feebly. His ashy face hadn't gained any colour, and it had Fraser worried.

"What happened?" Jonas croaked weakly.

"I'm not really sure, but according to those who were present, you might have infection in those scratches, and that's what's making you sick." Janet replied quietly.

"You have us right worried!" Mary exclaimed, helping him to drink from a straw.

"What's the last thing you remember, Jonas?" Janet questioned.

"Um, feeling dizzy in the café. I remember being led to a chair, then not much else." Jonas replied, his voice sounding slightly stronger.

"That's _everything_? You're sure?" Jack asked him, and the Colonel's voice was clouded with concern.

Jonas nodded again, "Quite." He replied. He drew in another sharp breath, and an expression of pain passed clearly over his ashy complexion.

"Jonas? What is it?" Fraser asked, but she got no answer, because Jonas's eyes had closed once again.

Fraser checked his pulse and found it quick and thready under her fingertips. She cast an alarmed gaze to the two airmen who had come with her.

"We have to get him back to the infirmary." Janet instructed, her gaze fell on Sam.

"Of course." Sam replied with a nod.

The airmen moved in with a stretcher and gathered Jonas to place him gently onto it. They then carried the young man downstairs and out to the waiting vehicle.

"Thank you, Mary." Jack replied, and with a tight smile he led his team to the door. Fraser had already vanished with the airmen. Jack could hear the commotion downstairs as Jonas was taken outside.

"Let me know what happens will ya, Jack? I'll give you my number." Mary replied, stopping O'Neill's departure. She quickly scribbled a phone number down on a nearby receipt for a local grocery store and thrust the small paper toward him. He took it, stuffed it into his pocket and smiled tightly, in what he _hoped_ would be encouraging, but from the look on Mary's face, he'd failed miserably in the attempt.

"I'll be sure to give you a call." O'Neill replied and quickly left, Mary following them down to the front door, and shooting scolding glances at all those who had gathered to see what was taking place.

Fraser was climbing into the back of the vehicle to set in next to Jonas, she shut the door with a resounding slam, and the tinted windows blocked all that was taking place inside the vehicle from prying eyes.

Colonel O'Neill spoke shortly to the driver, who nodded and watched Jack and the rest of SG-1 hurry to O'Neill's truck, where they climbed in quickly. The transport vehicle pulled out and O'Neill followed it. He watched the street ahead of him anxiously, but his gaze couldn't help but wander to the groups of people standing on the sidewalks and in front of the building, watching them go.

* * *

Doctor Fraser emerged from the infirmary, and was greeted with the stony faces of SG-1, as well as General Hammond seated haphazardly around the waiting room.

Upon seeing Fraser, Colonel O'Neill rose quickly from where he sat.

Before O'Neill got the chance to speak, Fraser held up a hand and smiled softly.

"He's stable, for now, but I don't know what I can do for him until I find out _exactly_ what's causing his illness." Janet replied, her voice was strained and anxious.

"Isn't it that shadow thing?" Jack asked.

"I don't really know, Colonel. As far as I can tell, the wounds inflicted by the creature have become infected, but I can't locate the toxin in his system. Now, I ordered some tests, and the results should, hopefully, be in soon."

"Toxin?"

"Yes, whatever scratched him, must've injected some sort of venom or something into Jonas through the wounds."

"You said the cuts were infected."

"They are, but they shouldn't be. Everything was done properly, Sam treated him in the proper way, and he came to me when you came back through the gate. I cleaned the wounds again, and they looked perfectly fine."

"So, Jonas received some sort of toxin when he was scratched and it was dormant until he got back here?" Sam asked.

"As far as I can tell, yes. For all I know, the toxin could've been activated by the trip through the gate."

"But, you said you couldn't _detect_ a toxin, Doc." Jack stated.

Janet nodded. "I know, Colonel. I can't, but it's the only explanation we have to go on right now. We'll know more when the test results come back. For now, I want everyone to get some rest. Jonas will be out for a few hours yet. I'll let you know as soon as he wakes up, Colonel." Fraser said quickly, after she saw O'Neill open his mouth to request such a thing.

Jack nodded and broke into a good-natured smile.

"Now go." Janet instructed.

SG-1 filed out of the infirmary, but Hammond remained behind.

"Doctor, what is your expert opinion on Jonas's condition?" Hammond questioned.

"Sir, he shows all of the signs of infection, yet I can't help but think there's something _more_. Something that I'm not picking up." Fraser stated, casting a look toward where Jonas lay.

"What do you mean?" Hammond wondered.

"To be truthful, I don't know, but there's nothing more that I can do for him until I get further information. So as of now, my theories are only theories. I'll know more later." Fraser told him.

"Very good, doctor. Let me know if there's any change in his condition." Hammond replied.

"I will, Sir."

With that, Hammond left the infirmary, and Fraser returned to her work.


	18. Fever Dream

**Chapter 18: Fever Dream**

The steady beat of a heart monitor pulsed in Jonas's ears. It lured him from the grasps of sleep and urged him to wake up. He tried to ignore the sound. He didn't want to wake up, not yet. Still, the beat droned on. Finally, Jonas gave in and slowly forced his eyes to open.

He was greeted by a darkened infirmary, showing very few signs of life. The only light came from the flickering of computer monitors, and the slight bit that was creeping in from the hall.

The infirmary was scarcely populated, with only one other patient who was sleeping quietly in the next bed over. Jonas listened to the sounds echoing around him, trying to fall victim to sleep once again, yet sleep refused to take him hostage this time.

His entire body ached, and his eyes burned as though he were exhausted. He closed his eyes, and still he could not sleep.

Cautious footsteps walked by his bed, stopping momentarily to check his readings. With a slight sound of approval, the footsteps moved on to the next patient. Jonas listened, the nurse woke the patient and began asking general knowledge questions. From this, Jonas deduced that the other patient had to have been suffering from a head injury. The tired voice of the patient told Jonas that it was Sergeant Siler who was sharing the infirmary with him.

With a quiet sigh, Jonas rolled away from the nurse and Siler and somehow, dropped into a light, restless sleep.

He awoke with a start. Something had caused him to wake up, but what? He looked sleepily around and saw nothing, not even the nurse who had been questioning Siler earlier. How long had he been asleep? An hour or two? He didn't know.

The lights in the hall had dimmed out a bit, and Jonas was left in fairly heavy darkness. He closed his eyes again, and as he lay there in silence, he heard steady breathing coming from the direction of Siler's bed. He ignored it, and tried to fall asleep again. The breathing drew closer and he opened his eyes. Seeing nothing, he turned his head to face the breathing, what he saw caused him to draw in a sharp breath.

In the darkness, watching him, were two, glowing red eyes. Eyes that were eerily familiar. With a small whimper he closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them again, there was nothing there, he saw movement coming from Siler's bed, and saw the man turn toward him. For a moment, Jonas thought he saw Siler's eyes flash red, and he blinked again, finding that the other man's eyes had returned to normal.

"Jonas? Are you okay?" Came the tired voice of the Sergeant.

Jonas jumped slightly, not expecting the man to speak, but nodded in the dark.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Jonas asked, breathing a sigh of relief at the creature being only a remnant from a dream.

"I heard you yell. I thought something was wrong." Siler replied, now sitting up in bed.

"Did I yell?" Jonas asked.

"Oh yeah. I'm surprised that the doctor isn't in here by now. I figured you yelled loud enough for the control room to hear you." Siler stated, a bit of a worried smile quivering at the corners of his mouth.

"I didn't realize. Sorry if I woke you." Jonas's voice was guilty.

"Don't worry about it. It's near impossible to get a decent rest here with a nurse coming to wake you up every hour or two. You must've been dreaming, nothing big." Siler deduced.

"Yeah, that had to have been it." Jonas muttered, turning his head away. He _hoped_ that was it.

He heard shifting from Siler's bed, and when he turned back, he saw Siler laying back down, eyes locked on the dark ceiling. With a sigh, Jonas closed his eyes, attempting to go back to sleep, but he knew it would be a futile attempt. After what he'd just seen, he'd be lucky if he could keep his eyes closed for a few minutes at a time.

A few moments later, Jonas felt a heavy feeling in his stomach, and opened his eyes. He caught a fleeting glance of a moving shape, and when it looked back, Jonas saw its eyes glow red. He called out, but his voice didn't carry.

As the thing looked at him, Jonas felt searing pain ripple through his wounds, followed by an extreme sense of weakness. He kept his eyes glued on the creature, and the room began wildly capsizing around him. A sick feeling bubbled in his stomach, and he immediately clenched his eyes shut, the spinning room vanishing into darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, the creature was gone. In the next bed over, Siler shifted. From the hall, Jonas heard a distinct clattering of something, followed by intense silence. His breath caught in his throat, and his heart pounded against his ribs with so much force, it was almost painful.

Numbly, he struggled to sit, choking back nausea as the room began to spin again. He drew in a ragged breath, and slowly let it out, his stomach settling a bit. With a surge of strength, he pushed himself from bed, grabbing onto the bedside stand as he threatened to fall forward.

"Jonas?" Came Siler's voice, echoing from far off.

Jonas ignored it, and stumbled to the door.

"Jonas? Should I call the doctor?" Siler asked, his voice taking on a worried edge.

Jonas waved him off and continued to proceed to the door. From behind him, he heard heavy breathing, and when he turned, he saw the red-eyed shadow staring at him.

"I gotta get outta here." Jonas whispered harshly to himself.

"What?" Came Siler's voice, oddly distorted in a deeper lilt of threat.

"Can't you see that? It's right there." Jonas said.

"See what? There's nothing there. Jonas, I'm going to call the doctor, okay?" Siler asked, sounding cautious.

Jonas found himself frozen to the spot. Siler made a movement, the creature turned, and Jonas tore his eyes away. With that, he stumbled to the doorcase, and leaned against it for support.

Looking out into the hall, he saw that it was empty, and there was nothing to be seen anywhere. He struggled to move outside into the light, stumblingclumsily. Before reaching the light, hefound himself being held back by something. When he turned, he saw the unsteady form of Sergeant Siler, holding him around the waist.

"I have to get to the light!" Jonas yelled.

"What are you talking about? Jonas, you don't look very good." Siler replied.

"The light! If we don't get into the light, it's going to kill us both. We have to go. It can't get us in the light." Jonas said, his voice sounding on the edge of insanity.

"Jonas, you're running a fever, it seems to me as though you're delusional. Come on, let's get you back to bed." Siler said, the sergeant tottered on his feet, but kept a firm grasp on Jonas as he tried to tug him back to the bed.

"I'm not! You don't understand, how can you?" Jonas yelled.

"Jonas! Snap out of it!" Siler exclaimed, his face was paled, and his eyes strangely glazed.

Behind Siler, Jonas saw the creature again, and he forced himself not to meet its eyes. Instead, his gaze drifted to Siler's neck, where he saw three jagged scratch lines that stretched under the collar of the hospital clothing he wore.

Jonas stared wide-eyed and lifted his eyes to meet Siler's. The Sergeant's eyes glittered a menacing red. Jonas tried to wrench from his grasp.

"Let me go!" Jonas wailed miserably.

"Jonas, come on, the doctor's on her way. Let's get . . . " Siler's voice trailed off to be replaced by a snarling, gravelly sound that sent shivers up Jonas's spine.

"You can't escape me. You have been marked, and you have no chance." The gravelly voice challenged, the words were coming from Siler's mouth, and the Sergeant's lips curled into a malicious snarl.

"Let go of me!" Jonas yelled, wrenching free and shoving Siler back in the process. The Sergeant toppled backwards, landing sharply on the ground, his head hitting the floor. There was a shout of surprise from Siler and then nothing.

Jonas looked up, and saw the shadowy creature had advanced on him. He yelled out and turned to run. He only got a few steps before Dr. Fraser's form was seen hurrying toward him, at first she looked concerned, but then her eyes took on a dangerous red hue, and Jonas turned away, only to be stopped by the shadowy creature itself.

The creature was silhouetted, and in the light, Jonas saw a twisted face, with greyed skin and glittering red spheres for eyes. It smiled and the smile was pure evil. It raised a hand, and Jonas saw three claws extend from the fingertips and begin toward him.

His legs gave out and he landed hard on the ground, the air being expelled from his lungs in a single breath. There were hurried footsteps and Jonas turned to see Dr. Fraser kneeling next to him, her eyes still glittering, and her skin appearing grey. She reached a hand toward him, and Jonas saw the claws. Then the figure shimmered, and Fraser was Fraser once again, her eyes appearing to be nothing, but afraid.

"Jonas!" She called.

Jonas slammed his eyes shut as the corridor began to spin once again, and he coughed as he choked back the nausea that threatened to overtake him. His face felt hot, and his wounds blazed with pain. He brought trembling hands up to mop at his face and when he saw his hands, three long claws extended from each.

He yelled out in horror, and the corridors tilted around him, tunneling out of sight as blackness edged his vision. He yelled out one final time, and fell backwards, his head made a solid connection with the floor and he heard Fraser's urgent voice echoing away into nothing.His eyes slid shut, the last thing he saw before passing over completely, were two eyes glowing red, and surrounded by the greyed skin and the malicious smile. Then he knew no more.

**A/N: Okay, that's probably as far as I'll go with the Jonas bashing thing, don't wanna overdo it. Let me know what you think, and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can! Don't worry if you're a bit lost at the moment, everything will be explained in good time, I promise!**


	19. Point of View

**Chapter 19: Point of View**

He was floating. That's the only way he could explain what he was feeling. Floating. His head felt light, and his body felt weak, he drifted in between two realities until white, hot pain lanced through his stomach and arm. That pain alone was enough to yank him roughly from where he was drifting and send him hurtling back into the reality that he was most familiar with.

He came out of unconsciousness with a yell that echoed of pain, and tears burned in his eyes as he forced himself to breathe through the pain. One cautious breath after one cautious breath. That was better, a little less pain now. He could relax a bit. He tried to bring his hand up to his forehead, where a dull, throbbing ache had wedged itself in his skull, but he found that he couldn't move.

With silent shock, he looked to his hands, and sawhis wrists strapped securely to the bed. He was in restraints! Why? What had he done to earn this kind of treatment? On the floor, next to the bed was what appeared to be a type of basin, but Jonas couldn't imagine what it was for. His stomach did a sickening little flip and he closed his eyes to shut out the sight of the room swimming across his field of vision. He now knew why the basin was there. He breathed through the flip flops of his stomach and strangled the sick feeling that was bubbling inside of him. When it had passed, he opened his eyes again.

"Why am I tied down?" Jonas muttered, his voice thick with a mixture of pain and drowsiness.

Footfalls! Light, quick footfalls! Someone was coming toward him, he forced his eyes to open and through the swimming haze of vision he saw Dr. Fraser's kind face looking down on him.

"How are you feeling, Jonas?" Fraser asked, her voice careful and slow, as though she were speaking to a small child.

"Sick. Why am I tied?" Jonas asked again, his stomach leapt ungracefully.

"Your fever caused you to become violent. Your temperature was so high that you were delusional. I'm sorry, Jonas, we had no choice, but to restrain you." Fraser said gently. She softly placed her hand on Jonas's forehead, and a small smile crossed over her lips.

"Your temperature's gone down a bit." She said in satisfaction.

"Doctor Fraser, did I do anything that I normally wouldn't?" Jonas asked, his voice suddenly small and anxious.

Fraser nodded, but didn't speak.

"What? What did I do?" Jonas asked, his voice still anxious.

"Let's just say that Sergeant Siler's got another concussion to add to the one he already had." Fraser said, her voice soft and sympathetic.

"I don't remember." Jonas replied, a look of utter guilt flashing angrily over his features.

"I wouldn't think that you _would_. You were pretty out of it when I got here."

"Pardon?" Jonas asked, indicating that he wanted her to clarify.

"When I got here, Siler was out cold, and you were stumbling in the hall. Then you just collapsed."

"I saw that thing. It was a living nightmare." Jonas replied, his stomach did another sick little flip, and he felt his face flush red.

"Jonas?" Fraser asked.

Jonas closed his eyes and drew in a shaky breath, when he opened them, all seemed to be normal once more.

"Nothing, never mind. Can you untie me, please?" Jonas asked, his voice sounded hushed and forced, but it was desperate nonetheless.

Fraser watched him for a few long minutes, seemed to be satisfied, nodded curtly and began to undo the restraints holding Jonas down. When the work was done, Jonas sighed in a grateful manner.

"Thanks." He replied.

"It's okay, you seem to be back to normal. More or less, you've still got a bit of a fever though." Fraser stated.

Jonas was quiet, listening to see if she would say more. He didn't have to wait long, for within the next couple of seconds, Janet spoke again.

"What _thing_ are you talking about, Jonas? What did you see? Can you describe it to me?" Fraser spoke calmly, she sank down on the bed next to him and he felt the mattress give under the new weight. When he looked up to meet her gaze, he saw that the doctor was listening intently, her brown eyes were clear and friendly.

"It was grey, all of it, an ash grey, and it had red eyes, glowing red eyes. And . . . " Jonas's voice trailed as he thought of the claws. Those claws, those were what had killed all of those innocent victims in the village, he knew it, somehow he was sure of it.

As he thought of this, he found that he was gripping the bed sheets so tight that his hands were sore. The room lurched around him and tears slid down his cheeks. So much pain, there was just so much of it!

His wounds gave another jolt of pain, as though begging for attention. His stomach turned again, and didn't stop turning. Jonas moaned miserably, and closed his eyes.

"Jonas? What else?" Fraser asked, her fingers were now wrapped around his wrist, checking the pulse that fluttered there. She seemed to be concentrating very hard on the face of her watch.

Jonas opened his eyes again. "Claws, it used its claws to kill the other people." Jonas saw flashes of slow images drifting through the back of his mind. Images that showed the deaths caused by the claws, as this was going on, he got an overwhelming sense of giddy excitement in seeing all those people falling victim to the shadow creature.

There was another horrible pain that crashed through him and he gasped. He swallowed hard, and listened for Fraser's answer.

"How, Jonas?" Fraser asked.

Jonas shook his head, he didn't want to explain the images that were flashing madly through his brain at the moment, it was just too much for him.

Fraser said nothing, but waited for Jonas to gather up enough courage to speak to her.

"He marked them, marked them alland tortured them." Jonas gagged at the thought of it, as the strange taste of blood filled his mouth. That was when he realized he'd bitten his tongue, and it was now bleeding freely. Fraser tore a tissue from the box and handed it to him. He placed it over the bleeding cut in his tongue and bit down to keep it in place.

"How do you know all of this?" Fraser asked, her gaze locked on Jonas.

"I don't know, I'm getting fleeting flashes of all that happened to those poor people. He murdered them in cold blood!" Jonas pulled the tissue from his mouth, and his voice was rising. Fraser moved further away from him, slight fear creeping over her face.

"Jonas, just calm down." Fraser replied, Jonas was babbling again, and Fraser was tempted to replace the restraints.

Jonas forced himself to calm, and his stomach still twisted angrily. He brought a shaking hand up to place on his stomach and sighed. The room capsized again, and Jonas gagged once more.

"Jonas? What's wrong?"

"He murdered them! How could he do that?" The images flashed through Jonas's mind, a repetitive movie of haunting silence, while people died all around him. Then Jonas realized that his point of view in these flashes was viewed through the eyes of the tormentor. _He_ murdered them! But, he couldn't have...could he?

"Make it stop! Make _me_ stop! I don't want to do this!" Jonas yelled, Fraser watched him anxiously, the young man's face had flushed to crimson, but beneath the flush, she could see ashy paleness.

"What are you talking about?" Fraser called to him.

Jonas immediately stopped yelling, Fraser's voice striking home. What _was_ he talking about? He sounded like a ranting madman. Jonas's face went blank as he contemplated everything he'd just been thinking. His hand still rested on his stomach, and didn't move.

"I...I'm not really sure." Jonas replied. His stomach gave another sickly turn and Jonas whimpered a bit.

Fraser watched Jonas in stunned silence. The young man didn't even know what he was talking about? She heard him whimper, and her sympathetic gaze, which she had been trying to avert from Jonas, returned to rest on him again.

A few moments later, she saw his eyes drop shut again, and didn't even move to wake him when he didn't answer to her calls.

* * *

Jonas came to again, andlookedaround the infirmary. He saw Sam seated next to his bed, a book propped on her knees, and she was silently mouthing the words. 

"Sam?" Jonas replied quietly. Carter almost immediately tossed her book aside, and rose to stand over him.

"Hey there, how are you doing?" She asked softly.

"Not great, but I'm living for the moment." Jonas replied. The taste of blood still brushed across his taste buds and he moved to grab the glass of water from a nearby table. When he moved, he immediately regretted it. The figure of Sam shimmered in and out of focus, and his face flushed again.

Sam looked alarmed, but said nothing. She just looked at him, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm fine." Jonas said to her.

Sam nodded and smiled. "I'll be right back." She said and trekked off toward Janet's office, emerging seconds later with Dr. Fraser following behind.

"I see you decided to join us again, Jonas." Fraser placed a hand on his cheek and turned to Sam.

"Could you get me a cool cloth? He's still got a fever." Janet asked. Sam nodded and went off in search of a cloth.

"Now then, lay back down." Fraser said and watched intently as Jonas leaned back against his pillows. Janet grabbed the glass of water and stuck a straw in it. She held the glass out for him, Jonas took it and drank gingerly from the straw. When he'd finished, he handed it back to her.

"You told me earlier that you _saw_ people being murdered? What did you mean by that?" Fraser asked curiously.

"That shadow creature murders those who venture out after nightfall. He murders them, marks them and sends the bodies back to the village, either in the town centre or on a relative's doorstep." Jonas found his stomach protesting again.

"How awful!" Fraser exclaimed. Jonas nodded, fresh pain dashed through his injuries and he winced.

"Jonas, what is it?" Janet questioned.

"Pain."

"Where?"

Jonas passed a hand over each of his wounds. With that he felt another flash, only this time it was stronger. He felt the claws on his hand dig deep into someone's skin, and he smiled in a threatening manner at the man quivering before him. He was shoved roughly from the flash and found himself shaking uncontrollably.

"It's done it again. There was another murder." Jonas replied.

"What?"

Jonas didn't answer, he was still shaking, a strong feeling of nausea lashed out at him, and he found his stomach churning wildly.

"I think I'm going to be sick." He muttered miserably, voice thick and unsteady.

"That's alright." Fraser said calmly, and seconds later, Jonas lurched to the side of the bed.

The young man's shoulders heaved, and Janet lay a comforting hand on his middle-back. Even through the shirt, she could feel the heat radiating from him. Sam walked in and surveyed the scene with wide, frightened eyes.

Jonas coughed again, and Sam quickly threw the cloth at Dr. Fraser, who was seated calmly next to Jonas, her hand on his back. Janet looked up as the cloth soared at her. She caught it expertly with one hand, and lay it across the back of Jonas's neck. Sam's eyes welled with tears, and she tore from the room with a frightened sob. Janet watched her go, wanting so badly to go after her, but knowing that she couldn't leave Jonas like this.

A moment later, Jonas wearily raised his head and sat back. Fraser handed him the glass of water and he took it in trembling hands. His face had flushed bright crimson, and his eyes were glassy. He finished the glass of water and didn't resist Janet's hand pushing him easily back on the pillow. Fraser took the cool cloth and placed it against Jonas's forehead. She then sat with him until he finally fell asleep again. Fraser got up from the bed quietly and went about cleaning out the basin incase there would be further need for it.

When this was done, and she'd checked on Jonas once again, she hurried off in search of Major Carter, she didn't know where to find the Major, but she had a fair idea.

**A/N: Well, this chapter was a bit longer. It probably didn't explain much, it's more like a bridge between the action. If you want to call it that. I'll try to explain more in the next part. Until then, let me know what you think, and don't be afraid to give suggestions!**


	20. Gruesome Discovery

**Chapter 20: Gruesome Discovery**

Doctor Fraser walked quickly through he halls of the SGC, making her way to Major Carter's office. It was the most likely whereabouts of her friend, if she knew Sam as well as she thought she did.

Sure enough, as she came upon the ajar door leading into Sam's office, she heard quietmuttering coming from inside. Fraser tapped lightly on the door, heard Sam utter a small 'come in', and gently opened the door the remainder of the way.

Janet stepped in and saw Sam bent over her desk, appearing to read a blank sheet of paper. Fraser walked over to where Carter stood, and reached out to her.

"Sam, are you going to be okay?" Janet asked, her voice speaking only in friendly concern.

Carter nodded hurriedly, then paused and looked up to Janet. The Major's eyes were moist, and worried.

"Janet, do you know how to help him?" Carter asked quietly, her voice shook a bit.

"Not at the present moment, no. Tests show fair amounts of an unidentified toxin floating in his system. I'm presuming that the toxin came from whatever scratched him back on the planet." Fraser replied.

"He was scratched by what the locals call a walking shadow. The shadow has a poor track record."

"Murder, yeah, Jonas told me. He also claims to be having flashes of people being murdered, and seems to think that _he's_ carrying out the deeds. Before you came in, he said that it happened again, someone else was killed. I don't know how he came across the knowledge, or if it's even true, but Jonas seems convinced."

Sam was watching Janet with wide eyes.

"I'm trying to separate the toxin from Jonas's blood. I hope that I succeed and _hopefully_ find some way of counteracting the poison."

"Is there anything that I can do?" Sam asked.

"Actually, if Hammond gives you permission, I'd like you and SG-1 to return to the planet to see if you can confirm Jonas's story. If there truly _has_ been another murder, I'll have to do some further brain scans, see if I missed something. Maybe I can find out the effects of the toxin on Jonas's brain, maybe there's some sort of _connection_ between the two." Janet replied.

"You think Jonas is right? Do you think that the toxin is some sort of marker that opens a telepathic connection between the beast and Jonas?" Sam wondered, beginning to see where Janet was heading.

"Something like that." Janet nodded.

"I'll see General Hammond right away. Of course, I'll have to run the proposition by Colonel O'Neill first." Sam said.

"I know. Let me know the verdict, okay? I'll be in my office." Janet said, and with an encouraging grasp on Sam's shoulder she left the office, tossing a smile back at Carter, who returned it half heartedly.

* * *

"If you don't have any objections Colonel, I think a return trip is well in order. Perhaps you can stir the waters around, uncover something further." Hammond said.

"Are you sure about this, Sir?" Jack asked.

"Quite sure. Now, do you have anything to add?"

"Uh, when do we leave?" O'Neill questioned, his voice taking on a warning edge. He wasn't sure if he _wanted_ to go back to that planet, but if it was the only way to help Jonas, he didn't see it fit to object.

"Twenty minutes. It should be morning there by then." Hammond said.

"Yes Sir." Jack said and left Hammond's office to go and inform the other two people on his team, who were awaiting the answer in the infirmary. They were checking up on Jonas.

When Jack entered the infirmary, he immediately felt the thick tension hanging in the air. Sam and Teal'c were seated next to Jonas's bed, speaking quietly with Dr. Fraser, while the young man slept restlessly.

"We have a go. We're leaving in twenty minutes, better get ready." Jack said. He saw Fraser smile in satisfaction, and Sam and Teal'c got to their feet eagerly.

The team was ready to go in less than fifteen minutes. They trooped into the gate room, signaled Hammond, and the technician began the dialing sequence that would take them back to Johnston's planet.

* * *

Stepping through the gate on the other side was much like stepping into a nightmare. The morning had a dreary quality to it. A feeling of dread hung thickly in the air, while a lone breeze fluttered past with a mourning sigh.

Colonel O'Neill shivered despite himself as he looked around in the early morning. Early was right, it couldn't have been much more than four thirty on the planet that they had just stepped onto. The sky and surrounding fields were still streaked with grey shadows, while the sun was barely beginning to peek over the horizon.

By the looks of it, they'd arrived at the perfect time. The morning appeared fresh, it hadn't been around for long, the smell of the night air still clung to the tendrils of fog that snaked around the team's feet. The grass was damp, creating a patch of wet at the bottom of each person's pant legs.

"Let's go. Surely _someone's_ up." Jack replied carefully, his gaze drifting to the hazy sights of the town up ahead of them.

SG-1 set off across the field, the wet grass clinging to them as they went. The ground was soft, and with each step, their feet made vague impressions in the earth.

A little more than half way to the town, Jack thought he heard a rustle of movement coming from the grass behind them, he turned with a start and focused on the area very carefully. He saw the movement again, and saw a frog-like creature leap toward them. With an expression of suspicion, he watched the creature go and then continued to lead his team to the town.

Upon arrival, all knew that something was definitely off. The atmosphere just didn't feel right, and Jack thought he could smell the faint odour of blood in the air. The team walked carefully up to the castle, and stopped dead in their tracks.

There, in front of the castle door was a bumpy shape. A shape that O'Neill was sure he recognized. He broke into a run and skidded to a halt, mere inches from the dark shape. He dropped to his knees, and pulled a scrap of cloth away to reveal a still, pale face.

Jack yelled out, appalled at what he'd just found, and proceeded to turn the body over. The man which O'Neill had just found was the butler that had let them in the night of Jonas's attack. The man had three jagged scratches stretching from his left cheek to his collar bone, as well as various bruises clouding his complexion.

Without much thought, O'Neill reached to the neck to search for a pulse, sighed weakly and looked back to Teal'c and Sam.

"Nothing." Jack muttered. He gently pulled the cloth back up to cover the butler's face and stood.

"It looks like Jonas was right." Jack replied simply, a look of vague confusion passed over his face.

Sam nodded, and turned away from the sight of the dead man.

"We should tell someone." Sam said.

"Yes, but who? The town looks pretty dead." With a visible wince, Jack turned to the body and forced himself to smile.

"Sorry about that." Jack told the corpse. Sam and Teal'c regarded their CO, and both were silently appalled.

"Maybe the law enforcement department." Sam suggested.

"Where's that?" Jack asked.

"I believe it is in the town centre, O'Neill." Teal'c said.

"Let's go and see." O'Neill led the way toward the town centre, passing darkened houses on the way. While he walked, he found himself lost in a daze, his thoughts kept returning to the danger this town was in and to the young man back in the SGC infirmary. As they reached their destination, Jack heard Sam yelp. He turned to her, and saw that she looked slightly sick.

"Carter?" Jack asked, and followed her gaze.

"Oh boy." Jack muttered.

Next to the fountain, there was another body. He looked toward the law office, and saw the corpses of two law officers, both of which were armed, the weapons discarded uselessly at their sides.

"Looks as though it was a tough night. For the _villagers_ at least." O'Neill mused as he checked each of the bodies in turn to see if they were dead. Sure enough, all three of them had no life left in them, they were marked just as the butler was. The scratches were in different places, but the design of each was the same.

He got to his feet in front of the fountain body, and moved to sit on the fountain wall. He looked into the fountain and saw that the water was red. He saw why as his eyes crossed the glossy surface and landed on a young woman's body at the other side, still in her night dress, and face down in the water. An empty water jug lay next to her on the ground, and yet another floated in the water next to her head. He jumped up with a yell, and went back to where Sam was still staring at the sorry sight with wide eyes. While keeping his distance, O'Neill's gaze wandered back to the new body. Jack saw a burned out candle resting on the fountain wall next to the young woman, and cringed.

"Wonder if Jonas saw all of _this_ coming?" Jack murmured to himself.

There was silence all around, and Jack soon broke it. "Come on, let's go back to the gate and tell the General what we found. Then we'll inform the law and get back home before we get blamed for this." Jack motioned around the area with a single sweep of his hand.


	21. Waking

**Chapter 21:Waking**

Jonas awoke. Startled at the dream he'd just been having. He heard the dull beeping of the various machines around the infirmary and sat up in bed, looking blearily around. He felt a bit better than previously, for that he was thankful.

His gaze drifted to the next bed, where Sergeant Siler slept soundly. Jonas felt a pang of guilt grasp his throat, and turned his eyes away from the sleeping form. He reached to the bedside table, where he'd seen his water glass before falling asleep again and grabbedthe small, plastic container, which he found was still half full. He drank the remainder of the warmed liquid quickly, and set the glass back.

From the far side of the infirmary, he saw Dr. Fraser coming toward him, a cautious smile of welcoming setting on her lips.

"Feeling better?" Janet asked, her voice was warm.

"A bit, yeah." Jonas answered.

Fraser smiled again, and reached a hand out to brush over his forehead. She drew back her hand with a satisfied noise and spoke.

"Your fever is practically nonexistent at the moment. I don't know how long it'll last though." Janet replied simply.

"Do you feel up to eating?" Janet asked him.

Jonas nodded eagerly. "Please." He replied, he hadn't realized just how hungry he'd been.

While Janet left him to wait, Jonas's mind drifted back to the dream he'd just awaken from. A feeling of disgust settled in the pit of his stomach, and suddenly, food no longer appealed to him. In his dream, he'd seen at least five people murdered, and in each case, he felt as though he were looking at the scenes _through_ the murderer's eyes. The thoughts of this caused Jonas to feel slightly sickened, and when Fraser brought him a tray of food, he took one look and decided otherwise.

"On second thought, I'm really not that hungry." Jonas said, his voice uncharacteristically dark.

"A moment ago, you were starving." Fraser stated, setting the full tray aside.

"I don't know if I could eat anything right now. I keep thinking about this dream I had before I woke up." Jonas said.

"Do you feel like talking about it?" Janet wondered.

Jonas thought for a moment and then nodded. "You know, that might make me feel a little better."

"Good then, explain away. I'm listening." Janet assured him.

"It sounds crazy." Jonas replied quickly, before even _starting_ his tale.

"I'm sure I've heard worse." Janet smiled. Jonas returned the smile and began.

When Jonas finished, he saw that Janet was silently regarding him with suspicious eyes.

"I told you it sounded crazy." Jonas replied simply.

"You're right. It did sound a bit off. You say you saw, or rather _murdered_ five people?" Janet asked, her eyebrows raising in curiosity.

"That's right. It seemed as though I were actually _looking _through the eyes of the murderer, so in a sense, I _was_ that person." Jonas said carefully.

"Jonas, I don't see how that's possible. You've been here the entire time."

"I know that, but like I said, it was just a dream. Although, in some ways, it felt more _real_ than anything." Jonas murmured quietly, his eyes locked onto Janet's and they exchanged silent gazes.

"Eat something, Jonas." Janet replied sternly when Jonas turned down her second offer of food.

"I don't think that I _can_." Jonas replied, the thought of food only making his stomach turn over uncomfortably.

"At least _try_. You have to eat, Jonas." Janet ordered softly.

Jonas nodded distractedly, and pulled the try onto his lap. He began absently pulling the crust from his bread and eating it, stopping to take small sips of water along the way. Janet seemed satisfied, for she made her way to where Siler had just awoke, and was gazing warily at Jonas, eyes clouded with confusion.

Jonas caught Siler's eyes and offered a small smile.

"I'm sorry about last night. As you've probably already guessed, I wasn't exactly acting like myself." Jonas replied softly.

Sergeant Siler smiled in return. "Yeah, I guessed that when you were yelling, and looking at me as though I were something out of a nightmare." Siler said simply.

Jonas laughed to himself and returned to chewing on the bread crust. When Janet had left, he pushed his tray aside and lay back on the pillows, turning his head toward Siler.

"How are you feeling?" Jonas asked, attempting to start casual conversation. He needed something to keep his mind off of the dream that he'd had.

"Aside from the massive headache, not too bad. How about you?" Siler questioned, his eyebrows raising suspiciously.

"Uh, well, I've been better, but I can't say I feel any worse than I did last night. What I remember of it, anyway." Jonas replied simply, he grasped his glass of water and drank from it slowly.

Siler watched Jonas in silence. "You should probably finish eating, or Dr. Fraser will practically _shove_ whatever you have on your plate down your throat."

Jonas looked to his sandwich, which was lacking crust, and sighed.

"I suppose so." He replied and took one of the sandwich halves.

Siler smiled in approval, and returned to sleep, his steady breathing floating through the room as one of the more human sounds of the infirmary.

Dr. Fraser dropped in to be sure that Jonas was eating, and when she saw that he was, she nodded and returned to her office, where she was no doubt doing up some paper work. Medical files, perhaps.

When Jonas had about three quarters of his sandwich gone, he pushed the tray aside and lay back with a tired sigh. Before long, Jonas found himself drifting somewhere between sleep and full alertness. In those short minutes, Jonas got an overwhelming sense of hatred toward _something_ and was soon bombarded with flashes of screaming people, and three jagged scratches that seemed to be burned into his unconscious mind. Scratches that symbolized the mark of the shadow. Those who suffered the mark, more often than not were killed. All except one, at that moment, he got a flash of his battle with the shadow creature.

Before passing completely into sleep, Jonas recalled thinking that he was the _only_ person who'd ever survived the mark, and he found himself wondering why, while strong feelings of hate came crashing down on him . . .


	22. A Plan

**Chapter 22: A Plan**

"_Five_? Are you absolutely ceratin, Colonel O'Neill." Hammond asked as Jack's voce came through the radio.

"Uh, yeah, quite sure." Jack replied.

Hammond's face was tight with unspoken confusion. Although he knew the stories behind the murders, he had a difficult time believing that any of it was true. The words of SG-1 had been the only things to convince him of the very real danger they were currently in. At least the danger after dark. From what he understood, there wasn't any danger during the daylight hours, this walking shadow preferred the night.

"It's done, Sir. The law has been informed, and we are not going to be held under suspicion." Came Sam's voice through the radio line.

"Come on back, SG-1. We'll keep the iris open for you." Hammond replied.

"See you in a few moments, General." Jack said and the radio signal was cut, the gate remained active, someone must've been holding it open from O'Neill's side.

A few seconds later, SG-1 stepped onto the ramp, and the gate shut down behind them.

"Report to the infirmary SG-1." Hammond said over the speaker system between the gate room and control room.

Jack gave a quick wave and led his team out of the gate room and down to the infirmary. Doctor Fraser was awaiting their arrival when they got there.

"Five dead." Jack said simply. Janet's face promptly went pale.

"Jonas was right." She murmured quietly.

"Huh? I thought Jonas only saw _one_ murder." Sam said.

"He woke up a little while ago, claiming to have had a dream in which he murdered five people. Your observation confirms his story, but _he_ didn't murder them. Someone, or _something_ else did." Fraser said.

* * *

"A telepathic connection?" Jonas asked disbelievingly. Dr. Fraser and SG-1 had wakened him a few moments previous and told him of the murders and the theory that Janet had.

"That's ridiculous." Jonas breathed.

"My thoughts exactly, but everything seems to point to the possibility." Jack replied, tossing Fraser a curious glance. She nodded as if agreeing with his words, but did nothing else.

Jonas sat in stunned silence. This _couldn't_ be possible. It _couldn't_ be. However, he had to admit that he felt inclined to agree with the possibility. How _else_ could he have seen those murders? There was just no other explanation for it, except that the shadow creature must've left a part of itself behind after it scratched him. That _had_ to be it, anything else would be impossible.

"Jonas?" Came Jack's voice, piercing through his thoughts. Jonas blinked and turned to O'Neill.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"Lost in your own little world?" Jack asked curiously.

"Guess so."

"I figured as much. So, have you had any _other_ murder flashes?" O'Neill questioned.

Jonas shook his head.

"No, but I've had unexplained feelings, not many of them good."

"Uh, what?"

"Well, after the flashes, I felt almost giddy with excitement. I wanted to keep killing, Colonel."

Colonel O'Neill visibly winced, his features contorting to almost disgust.

"Jonas, that makes about as much sense as _I_ do most of the time." Jack replied simply.

"I know, Colonel. It sounds crazy, but it's what I've been experiencing." Jonas replied.

The members of SG-1 were trapped in silence, watching their team mate explain his excitement over murder. There was absolutely _no_ way that Jonas would have those types of feelings of joy after having committed murder. Let alone, _five_ murders in a _single_ night. There was definitely something darker at work here, all of a sudden the telepathic connection theory didn't sound so crazy. In fact, it seemed completely sane, after all they'd been through, nothing sounded too far fetched any more. Everything, no matter how strange or how impossible, seemed so close that if one were to reach out with a hand, the hand would almost certainly encounter something matching that description. It was just the way the job worked.

* * *

Nearly an hour had passed since Jonas's explanation. Since then, the young man had fallen silent, and he appeared as though he didn't wish to speak of the connection thing any longer. In all truth, he seemed completely appalled by it, but who could blame him? This certain subject wedged itself deeper than any could imagine.

"If there _is_ a telepathic connection between yourself and that thing, then your brain activity should have increased. I'm going to check in and see if the scans are back yet, at which time I can give you more complete details." Dr. Fraser replied simply. She walked quickly from the company of SG-1 and vanished through the door.

SG-1's attention turned back to Jonas, who seemed to be lost in thought. He didn't even look as though he'd heard anything that Fraser had just said before she left. He had a faraway look in his eyes, as though he were focusing on something in the distance, while a pale rose flush crept into his cheeks.

"Jonas, are you okay?" Sam asked carefully. Jonas seemed to snap out of his daze and turned to her with a gentle smile.

"Yeah, Sam. I'm fine." He replied, but his voice was cold and distant, and concealed within his tones was something more, and whatever it was, it didn't sound pleasant. In fact, it hardly sounded like Jonas at all.

* * *

"Well, the brain scans came back positive for an overabundance of activity." Dr. Fraser replied.

"So, there _is_ a telepathic connection between the two of them?" Sam asked.

"Yes, I think so." Fraser said simply.

"We _are_ going to tell Jonas, right? I mean it _is_ his brain after all. He has a right to know what's going on inside his own head." Jack replied.

"Yes, Colonel." Fraser answered.

"At what time do you hope to do this Doctor Fraser?" Teal'c asked.

"Actually, right now. Care to join in on the fun?" Janet questioned, a slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Indeed." Teal'c replied and fell into step behind the doctor as she left the office.

They wandered into the infirmary, and over to Jonas's bed. As they approached, they heard the steady breathing that symbolized the young man was asleep.

"Jonas? Jonas, wake up." Fraser replied softly, shaking him gently. Jonas woke quickly, and for a split second, Fraser thought she saw a nasty glimmer in his eyes, but the glimmer was soon replaced by Jonas's curious gaze.

"Doctor Fraser? What is it?" Jonas asked, his voice thick from sleep.

"The results of your brain scans came back positive for a heightened activity level." Janet said.

"So, that means that there's a connection of sorts between that _thing_ and me?" Jonas wondered, his face contorted into disgust.

"I'm afraid so, and I really have no idea how to sever it. How it got there is fairly simple, there were amounts of an unknown toxin in your blood. I'm presuming that it came from the scratches that were inflicted upon you. Now, your life doesn't seem to be in any _immediate_ danger from it at the moment, but I don't know if that has the ability to change or not, and at this point, I have run every test that I know of. Our only choice as of now is to wait and see what happens." Fraser replied.

"Doc, why didn't that thing _kill_ him? Not that I'm complaining, but still." Jack asked.

Janet turned to Colonel O'Neill, and her face was blank. "I don't know Colonel. It could have something to do with his differences. Then again, the creature may have known _exactly_ what it was doing, I don't know for sure." Fraser said.

"Is there anything that would help you to find some way to break the connection?" Jack asked.

"Perhaps a sample of the creature's blood would do, but I don't think it's such a good idea for you to go off and get me one. I have no idea how any of you would react if you were scratched. It could very well kill you." Fraser spoke silently, yet her words were powerful.

O'Neill thought about the possibility for a moment, then something struck him. What if they found the creature during the day? The only time that it seemed to be active was after nightfall. If they could somehow get the sample while it was _inactive_ then there might be a better chance of not being scratched.

"We might be able to get that sample for you, Doc." Jack replied.

"How?" Fraser asked, clearly surprised by what O'Neill was saying.

"There might be _one_ way. We could try to strike it during the day." O'Neill said.

"Sir, that's it. You're a genius!" Sam exclaimed.

"I am?" O'Neill wondered, a smug smile creeping to his lips.

"Yes, Sir. The creature is only active after the night falls. It has never been seen during the day, therefore, it has to be nocturnal. If we knew where it was hiding, then we could go in without disturbing it while it slept, get the sample, and get out before it even knew what hit it!" Sam replied, her excitement mounting.

"No, I can't ask you to do that." Jonas said quickly.

"You don't have to. We're going as individuals, on a voluntary basis." Jack said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it isn't mandatory to be there. However, those who _do_ wish to come, _you_ come with _me_." Jack replied with a smile.

"I'm coming." Sam said quickly.

"As am I, O'Neill." Teal'c replied.

"Good, let's go gang up on General Hammond. If all of us corner him at the same time, he'll be easier to convince." Jack said smugly.

"Colonel, don't do this on my account." Jonas said.

Jack locked his eyes on Jonas's, and said nothing. "We're going, Jonas. If the General gives us the okay, we're going with or without your blessing. I'm not gonna have a member of my team walking around with split personalities."

Jonas simply watched O'Neill in silence.

"Thank you." Jonas said, softly.

"Not a problem, see you later." O'Neill replied.

Jonas nodded and SG-1 began to leave.

"Colonel," Janet began. Jack stopped and turned to her.

"Doctor?" He asked.

"Good luck talking to General Hammond, and _please_ _be careful_." She finished.

"Aren't we_ always_ careful, doc?" Jack winked at her and Jonas, then led SG-1 to find General Hammond.


	23. Through Another's Eyes

**Chapter 23: Through Another's Eyes**

"Is there any _other_ way to break the connection?" Hammond asked. He wasn't going for the strike during the day thing.

"No, Sir." Jack answered quickly.

"I don't know if I want to risk sending you into this mission."

"General, if I may interrupt." Jack replied.

Hammond nodded.

"Okay. General, this creature is only active at night, and since it is clearly not night on that planet, we won't be in any danger. Sir, it may be our only hope of severing the telepathic connection. I'm afraid if we don't find a way to cut it quickly that Jonas's life may be in danger." O'Neill said in all sincerity. Okay, so Fraser didn't exactly _say _that Jonas's life would be in jeopardy, but it never hurt to stretch the truth a little bit.

Hammond stared into Jack's eyes, clearly searching for any signs of fibbing, but didn't seem to find anything, but sincerity.

"I want you to know that while I don't support your idea of this, Colonel, I'm willing to allow your team to move in on a voluntary basis. Therefore, if either of you does not wish to carry on with this mission, you are free to remain behind." Hammond said, his gaze floated between Sam and Teal'c.

"I wish to accompany O'Neill in his efforts." Teal'c replied almost instantly.

"As do I, Sir." Sam said, almost as soon as Teal'c had finished speaking.

"Very well then. It's settled. Leave as soon as possible." Hammond said.

"We're ready now." Jack said.

"Okay. You have a go." Hammond finished and watched the looks of relief that flooded across the faces of his lead team.

"Great, let's get going, we don't wanna waste daylight, do we? General, we'll be home before our curfew, the moment we see signs of night, we're outta there. See you in a bit." Jack stated and trooped off to gather his supplies.

"Good luck. Be careful." Hammond muttered after them, but none seemed to hear.

* * *

SG-1 walked slowly into the village, and saw that it had come alive since the last time they had been there. There were a great number of people milling about in the streets, some looking shocked and surprised, others were crying.

As the team looked to see what all of the commotion was about, they saw that the last body was being removed from in front of the law office. People stood in groups watching, until the body was wheeled out of sight.

Jack looked to the other two members of his team, and saw them merely watching the scene before them. From within the crowd, they could hear Johnston's voice speaking with one of the groups. O'Neill led SG-1 closer, and when Johnston saw them approach, he excused himself and came to the team. Even at a distance, SG-1 could see harsh lines on his face, lines that showed how troubled he was. His eyes reflected suffering, and sympathy, but aside from that, there wasn't much else that could be told in the way he appeared.

"I did not think that you would be back." Johnston replied.

"Neither did we, but there were some _complications_ with the member of my team that was attacked." Jack said.

"Allow me to be the first to offer my deepest sympathies, but it was only obvious that once he was attacked that he would not last long. Nobody who is marked survives." Johnston said simply.

"Hey, wait, I think you're mistaken. Jonas isn't dead." Jack said quickly.

"I thought you said there were complications."

"There _are_, but not of the type you're thinking. No, it seems that Jonas has been telepathically connected with the walking shadow through the _marks_ that he received."

"I have never before heard of such a phenomenon."

"Neither have we, but we want to find out how to _stop_ it."

"How do you intend to do so?"

"We have to know where it camps out when it's not killing. Our doctor needs a blood sample to analyze and devise a cure."

"You cannot! There is no possible way that you would be able to get a sample without it waking up."

"Let _us_ be the judges of that. Any ideas where he camps out?" Jack asked.

"It is not known to us. However, if you are determined on getting this . . . "

"We are." Jack interrupted.

"Well then, you may wish to try the forest. It is said that there is a cavern concealed within it in which he sleeps. Be warned though, it is just a rumor." Johnston said.

"Thanks, we'll let ya know how things go." Jack smiled and turned toward the forest, where he led his team into its depths.

* * *

In the infirmary, all was quiet. Jonas slept soundly as the final hours of daylight were extinguished. His sleep was filled with unsettling dreams, and none were good.

He had heard SG-1 telling Fraser about the sample of blood they were going to get for her. He'd tried to discourage them, the last thing he needed was his friends dying on his behalf. His words of discouragement and concern did no good, for Colonel O'Neill had simply dismissed his worries and said they were going with or without his agreement. All he could do was wish them luck, and hope that General Hammond would order them not to take the mission.

His hopes had been crushed however when about a half hour later, he'd heard Jack's voice floating toward him from the far side of the room. Fraser had said that he was sleeping, in truth, he _had_ been, but he'd waken up only seconds before SG-1's arrival.

Keeping his eyes closed, he'd listened to the conversation, heard Fraser wish them luck, and then heard the footsteps of his friends leaving. He stayed awake for quite some time, but eventually found himself drifting off, and the next thing he knew he was thrown into one of the most frightening dreams he'd had since this connection had been created between him and the shadow.

In the dream, or what he could only_ presume_ to be a dream, he found himself standing in the centre of a forest, his eyes locked onto a dark cave that was set against a bank. He knew what was in the cave. The shadow creature was there, sleeping, or waiting. From where he was, he couldn't tell.

He heard the voices of SG-1 coming to him through the trees, and seconds later saw Colonel O'Neill emerge from the forest, followed by Teal'c, then Sam, and they all stopped talking, the last unfinished sentence hanging and dying in the air. Suddenly the team was all business, O'Neill gave a few hand signals and the other two moved into position.

Jonas stood in the centre of the clearing, watching them, wanting to speak, and finding that nothing he said could be heard, not even by him. He felt his mouth move, knew what he wanted to say, but only silence escaped.

"Think anybody's home?" Jack murmured to himself.

'_Yes, Colonel, someone's home. He's in there, I can tell. Please, just turn and go back, I'm sure Doctor Fraser will find some way of severing the connection without the blood sample, and if that doesn't work, why not call in for backup from one of our allies? Surely _someone_ will be able to help._' Jonas tried to speak the words, but only found that he couldn't, he was caught in silence.

Without warning, Jonas felt like he was being sucked through a vortex, and the next thing he knew, he was looking around a dark cavern, he felt the joy of murder boiling inside him. He was going to kill those who dared trespass into his land. Movement whispered from outside, and he knew that the Earth team had returned. For what, he didn't know, but they were back.

Wait, he _did_ know why they were here, they wanted a sample of his blood for their doctor to analyze. Why? The reason was simple, the Earth doctor hadn't yet found a way to help him, the marks were puzzling her.

That was good, he would kill the three outside, and they'd never be able to help in her developments. He knew they were there, but _they_ didn't know he was onto them. He closed his eyes, he'd wait, they were sure to come inside, and when they did, he'd kill them.

Footsteps coming toward him, his plan was working perfectly. He felt the presence of someone kneeling next to him, only a few more seconds. A tiny pinprick in his neck, good, that meant that one of them was carrying out their job. The prick was removed, someone got up, and turned away. He opened his eyes. The older man stood, back to him. Perfect. He quietly got to his feet, raised a hand and swiped the man off of his feet. The man yelled, and drew his weapon upon hitting the ground. There was commotion outside, and he knew the others were coming to help the older man which he'd just grounded.

They were too late, he brought his hand down and pinned the man to the ground, turned him roughly over and raised his other hand.

Jack! He was going to kill Jack, he _couldn't_ do it, he had to fight it, had to stop himself.

The cave lurched out of focus, only to fade into darkness. Darkness from which Jonas surfaced, yelling with terror. What had he done? Had he stopped himself in time?

"Jonas!" Came Fraser's shout, and she appeared next to him only seconds later, a very urgent look on her face.

Jonas was damp with perspiration, as were his bed sheets. Blinding pain lanced sickeningly through his wounds, his stomach turned over, and his head pounded viciously. Seconds later, he lurched to the side of his bed, surfacing a few moments later. Fraser brushed a hand across his cheek, and her eyes clouded with concern.

"Your temperature's spiked again. Jonas, what happened?" Fraser asked in concern.

"Colonel O'Neill is going to be killed, unless he already _has_ been. I don't know, I was pulled from the dream before I found out." Jonas said, his chest felt tight, and then he realized his breath was coming in panicked gasps.

"Jonas, calm down, you're hyperventilating." She handed him a glass of water, which he downed quickly.

"Someone has to go and check on him." Jonas said.

"Jonas, Colonel O'Neill is fine, he should be back in a little while." Fraser said, but her voice sounded doubtful.

"What if he _doesn't_ come back? Doctor Fraser, I know what I saw, I'm connected with that thing, remember? What I saw makes me doubt Colonel O'Neill's swift return. Someone has to go and pull them out, the creature isn't sleeping, it's awake, it knows what they're planning, it's awake and it's going to kill them _all_." Jonas's voice sounded desperate.

"I'll tell General Hammond to send in SG-2." Fraser said.

"Let me go with them! I might be able to provide some help." Jonas replied.

"No, Jonas. You're not fit to be going off world, you're staying here, SG-2 can handle it."

"No, they can't. Doctor, please." Jonas said, his voice was harsh, but also pleading.

"No, Jonas. You're staying." Janet said, her voice sharp.

Jonas sighed roughly and glared past her shoulders to the door. General Hammond stood there, and he was looking very alarmed.


	24. It's All About Timing

**Chapter 24: It's All About Timing**

Beyond Doctor Fraser, Jonas saw General Hammond standing motionless in the doorway. The General's face was pale and his eyes were clouded with confusion as well as hints of fear, he looked as though he wanted to say something, but his mouth uttered no sound.

Upon catching a glimpse of Hammond, Jonas immediately removed the glare intended for Doctor Fraser from his face, and replaced it with an expression of anxiety. Had General Hammond just heard _all_ of what Jonas had told Fraser? From what Jonas could gather from the older man's expression, it was a _very_ strong possibility that he'd heard everything.

Seeing Jonas's sudden change in facial expression, Janet turned to the door and saw the Commander of the SGC casting worried glances from her to Jonas. Fraser straightened herself up and stood at attention. Hammond dismissed her actions with a wave of his hand.

"General Hammond, did you hear the _entire_ conversation?" Jonas asked anxiously, hoping that the question would speak for itself. Hammond nodded, but said nothing.

Jonas closed his eyes, he'd suspected as much, and from the looks of it, General Hammond didn't find this news entirely convincing, _or_ very comfortable to take in.

"How did you come across this information, Jonas?" Hammond asked quietly.

"I had a dream." Jonas replied shyly.

"A dream? From my knowledge, dreams are nothing, but dreams." The General replied.

"General, it's the same as last time. I can't explain it, it just happens, I have no way of controlling it."

"What do you suggest we do?" Hammond seemed to slowly become convinced. He turned to Doctor Fraser with an expectant look in his eyes.

"I suggest we send another team through to check on SG-1, Sir. Is SG-2 back yet? We could be dealing with a potentially hostile situation. The only thing I have to go on is Jonas's accounts of what has or will happen, and until I can find out more, I suggest we follow his instincts. He _was_ right last time." Fraser replied, her voice sounding strong, despite the way she was feeling.

"SG-2 isn't due back for another few hours." Hammond replied.

"It'll be too _late_ by then!" Jonas exclaimed suddenly.

Hammond and Fraser turned to him in surprise.

"Let_ me _go, General. I may be the only person who _can_ go without being put in direct danger." Jonas said quickly.

"No, Jonas. I told you before, you're not fit to go _anywhere_, let alone off world!" Janet replied, her voice raising in warning.

"You may not have a choice." Jonas replied darkly.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Fraser questioned suddenly.

Jonas closed his eyes and sighed. "Nothing. Please, just let me go, send another team with me if you wish, but let me go and see what I can do." Jonas replied, he turned pleading eyes on General Hammond, but the General didn't seem as though he were willing to allow Jonas to go.

"You heard what doctor Fraser said, Jonas. I have come to respect her opinion, I'm sorry. If she doesn't see you fit to go, I'm afraid I can't authorize it." General Hammond said.

"General, I know how this creature _thinks_, I've been inside its _mind_. I could be of help in finding SG-1." Hammond looked as though he were about to interrupt, but Jonas wouldn't let him.

"Yes, I _know_ what doctor Fraser said, but without intending any disrespect toward either of you, doctor Fraser doesn't even know what's going on with me. All _she_ knows is that there's a telepathic connection between the creature and myself, and I have some unidentified toxin running rampant through my bloodstream. The fact is, I feel _fine_, and if you want SG-1 back alive and in one piece, I suggest you let me go. I may be the only chance they have." Jonas replied, his voice quivering with frustration.

"Jonas, you're not _fine_. Look at yourself. You're an emotional train wreck. If you went into this mission, even _with_ another team, your emotions would probably get the best of you, and we may very well lose all of you. I'm not willing to authorize that type of risk. You _can't_ go. That's my final decision." Fraser said with positive hints of her own frustration.

"I'm sorry, Jonas. You're going to have to remain behind." Hammond said.

Jonas balled his hands into tight fists, his knuckles turning white with the action, a light flush had crept into his cheeks, and he was visibly holding back anger. Hammond watched the young man with a sort of cautious interest, Jonas seemed to be acting _very_ out of character.

"General . . . " Jonas started, harshly, but Hammond held up a hand to silence him.

"I'm sorry, but the answer is no. I'll get SG-3 to go through and look for SG-1. Where would they be able to find them?" Hammond asked.

Jonas looked as though he were about to object, but thought better of it and sighed again.

"Through the forest outside the village. They should come to a clearing with a cavern. Make _sure_ they keep going in a straight line from the gate, into the forest. If they get even _slightly_ off the course, Colonel O'Neill and the others will be killed, if they haven't been already." Jonas replied.

Hammond nodded quickly and left to call SG-3 to a quick briefing. Jonas only hoped that what he'd seen in his dream was to happen in the future, for if it had been taking place while he saw it, SG-1 would surely be dead by now.

Fraser cast him a stern, yet worried glance and nodded.

"They'll be fine, Jonas." She replied, although she didn't sound entirely convinced herself.

"Yeah, right." Jonas replied anxiously.

* * *

The team of SG-3 had hardly had the chance to get in the door, let alone _sit_ after being called to an urgent briefing. Almost as soon as they'd gotten there, Hammond launched into a short, hurried spiel about SG-1 and danger. SG-3 wasn't even sure any of them had understood everything correctly.

"It's all about timing. Get in, complete your mission as quickly as you can, and get yourselves _out_. There's no time for sight seeing." Were the words that Hammond had left them with before ordering the technician to start dialing.

The briefing had lasted less than five minutes when the gate was activated, and the team sent through, grabbing their equipment from the airmen that stood waiting at the base of the ramp upon their departure.

It had all passed so quickly that it all felt like it was a dream, until the team stepped through the other side and the reality of it all struck them fully in the face. Without words, Major Greer led the other three members of his team to the forest, making sure to keep in a straight line from the gate, just as he had been told.

Sure enough, the clearing and cavern were nestled in the heart of the forest, but there didn't appear to be anyone around. Still, they silently moved into position.

* * *

Colonel O'Neill had found the cavern without trouble. Looking back to the other two people of his team, he nodded, told them to stay and walked slowly to the cave entrance. From within the cave, he heard steady, even breathing floating to his ears.

There was definitely someone home. He crept into the entrance and saw a large mound of darkness hidden in the shadows of the cave. He stayed in place to be sure that the thing was still asleep, saw no flicker of red eyes and was convinced that it was safe to approach. He pulled the syringe from his pocket without a word, and walked slowly to where the mound lay. Not bothering picking an appropriate place for the needle, he eased the point into the skin and drew what looked like muddy swamp water into the vile.

The creature didn't move. Satisfied, Jack stood, capped the vile and stowed it into his pocket. He turned quietly away and began toward the entrance. Distinct movement sounded from behind him, and had just barely turned, when he was struck down by a blow to the left side of his head, near his temple. He felt something slice into his skin and yelled out as he fell to the ground. He grabbed his gun from his belt, dazed from the recent shock and trained it on the creature that had pinned him down.

A massive, three clawed hand was raised above O'Neill's chest and the Colonel tried desperately to struggle away. The hand began the decent toward him, got no more than three inches from its target, and the huge creature growled and reared away from O'Neill. The dark creature rushed into one of the several passageways at the back of the cavern, leaving Jack on the ground, dazed and bleeding.

"Sir!" Yelled Sam, and he saw her drop next to him.

"Guess he doesn't like needles." Jack mused quietly. A small smirk crossed Carter's lips, but upon seeing the bloodstained cheek of her CO, she turned his head roughly to her.

"Ouch, hey! Carter, what are you doing?" Jack asked, mildly surprised at her reaction.

By now, Teal'c had dropped next to Carter and was also casting worried eyes upon O'Neill. The blood from the cut above Jack's temple had spread to his cheek, and was now beginning to drip onto his uniform jacket. Seeing the crimson stain his coat, the Colonel brought a hand up to where his skin felt like it was on fire. His fingertips came away stained.

"Oh, Fraser's gonna have a _great_ time with _this_." Jack said without a hint of amusement.

Carter's eyes shook with concern, and Teal'c looked as though he'd just tasted something rotten. The Jaffa's eyes were wide in shock, and his forehead was creased from where he was frowning.

"It's just a scratch. Don't worry about it." Jack said, catching the looks on his friends' faces.

"Sir, that's not _just_ a scratch. There are three distinct marks. Here, here, and here." Sam touched each mark gingerly. Her last touch just above his hairline, while the other two were shortly below, on his forehead.

"Aw, crap." Jack said, his voice darkly hollow, as he ran his fingers over the three cuts.

"I believe you have been marked, O'Neill." Teal'c said, his voice thick with what seemed to be concern.

"Which means, I'm not gonna last much longer, right?" O'Neill replied, his voice even darker.

Sam's eyes still shone with worry, her mouth was set in a grim line, and her face was stony and anxious. She shrugged. "I don't know, Sir." She admitted.

Jack was quiet for what seemed like hours and when he spoke again, his voice had an edge of wry humor to it.

"So Carter, do you want my DVD player?" O'Neill asked, his mouth quivering with a slight smile.


	25. Something Stirring

**Chapter 25: Something Stirring**

Sam cast Jack a furious gaze that gained a puzzled expression from the Colonel who had made his way to his feet and was watching Sam and Teal'c carefully.

"What? It's a nice DVD player, honest. It plays just as though it were new." O'Neill replied after carefully surveying Carter's glare.

"It's not that, Sir." Sam said, her voice harsh.

"Then what?" O'Neill questioned, forgetting about making jokes for the moment. This was clearly bothering Sam.

"How can you just accept this and go on as if nothing happened? Colonel, you have been _marked_ for death, and I can't believe you're willing to give up!" Sam replied, her voice was frustrated as well as a little surprised.

Jack held up a hand. "Carter, I'm not going to give up, but as of now, there's nothing we can do except hope that the marking has nothing to do with dying. Right now, we have to get this sample back to Fraser." Jack replied, his voice calm and reassuring.

"Yes, Sir." Sam replied quietly.

Teal'c turned his attention quickly to the cave entrance, his face set in determination.

"O'Neill, I believe that there is someone outside." Teal'c replied.

"Who?" Jack asked, without thought.

"I do not know, they are outside." Teal'c said simply.

"Right." Jack whispered, cast a glance back to the cavern tunnels, and then swept his eyes right to rest momentarily on Carter, and he smiled gently. She did not return the smile, her attention was focused fully on the entrance, weapon drawn, face showing her concern, anxiety and various other emotions.

O'Neill walked up next to Teal'c, and locked his eyes on the entrance, waiting for the visitor outside to come _inside_.

* * *

Major Greer pressed himself against the outer wall of the cavern and slid toward the entrance. The cold, hard stone of the cave drove into his back almost as if it were trying to push him away. There was a definite negative vibe in the area. _Anyone_ could pick up on it without a problem. It hung in the air like a thick quilt. Everywhere he turned, it felt as though something was watching him, his neck prickled in warning, and goose bumps rippled up his arms. A heavy feeling rested in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that was clearly one of warning. All of his senses were telling him to take his team and run, to screw rescuing SG-1 and just get out of there, let SG-1 find their own way out.

His senses may have told him one thing, but his personality told him the total opposite. He'd never left a man behind, and he wasn't planning on starting now. He slowly made his way toward the entrance, his heart hammering in his chest, and his nerves telling him of danger. He readied his weapon, and pushed it into the entrance. From within, he heard Teal'c's staff weapon preparing to fire.

"Colonel O'Neill, don't fire." Greer called calmly.

He heard Jack order Teal'c to lower his weapon, and breathed in relief.

"Major Greer?" Jack called.

"Yes Sir. General Hammond sent us to check up on you." Greer said and motioned for his team to come.

He ducked into the cave, and his eyes wandered to the three members of SG-1, weapons hanging at their sides, gripped tightly in their hands in case the voice they'd heard didn't belong to Greer.

The rest of SG-3 followed their leader inside and their eyes also scanned over SG-1. Colonel O'Neill raised a hand in greeting.

"Glad you could drop in." O'Neill said simply.

"Sir, you're scratched." Sergeant Greeley replied. She pointed to the marks on Jack's forehead.

"That's what _I_ thought." O'Neill said casually, then shot a curious glance toward Major Carter, who didn't seem to have noticed his eyes on her.

"What do you mean?" Major Greer asked curiously.

"Three scratches. Apparently I've been marked for death." Jack replied darkly.

"Sir, with all due respect, if that were the case, shouldn't you be dead by now?" Lieutenant Olton questioned, his light eyes suspicious.

"I don't know, but I'm not complaining. We should get back to Earth and give Fraser the sample we collected. She might be able to devise a way to help Jonas from it, and if need be, help _me_." Jack said, his voice unusually quiet.

O'Neill led the way to the gate, but they were stopped as they emerged from the forest when a group of people nearby saw them come out.

"They have returned. Did you find what you were searching for?" One of the people asked, it was a young man with eager green eyes and windswept brown hair.

"Yes, we got it." Jack replied, his voice sounding a bit tired.

"Then you encountered the walking shadow and escaped unharmed?" Asked another man, younger than the first.

"More or less." Jack said.

"Look, he is not unharmed, he has been marked!" Called a woman who had been flirting with the green-eyed man until he turned his attention to the human coming from the forest.

"He has, and he is not dead? By all rights he should be." The second man replied.

"We really have to get going. We've got a delivery to make." Jack said, attempting to croon his way out of the uncomfortable conversation that had just come up.

"You cannot go, you have survived the mark. Johnston will wish to see you, you are the only one who has ever survived." The woman called as Jack turned and walked away.

"Actually, that's not true. A friend of mine was marked twice in a matter of twenty-four hours and he's fine." Jack said, stopping. He sounded exhausted, and there wasn't a solid reason why he _should've_ been.

"That cannot be! It is impossible!"

"Is not." O'Neill muttered.

"It _is_."

"It's _not _impossible. If that were the case, my friend would've died, _twice_. We really have to be going." Jack replied and began to walk again, his pace was quicker than previously, and the others hurried to keep up.

* * *

"Doctor, you _have_ to let me go." Jonas said, his voice was pleading.

"You know that I can't do that, Jonas." Fraser replied, not looking up from the clipboard she was writing on.

"You _have_ to." Jonas pleaded.

"Jonas, I can't. It's no use arguing, my decision stands." Fraser replied.

Jonas sighed furiously, and pounded his fist into his mattress. Fraser made no movement.

"_Doctor Fraser to the gate room, doctor Fraser to the gate room, immediately!"_ Came a surprised voice through the communication system.

Fraser's heart caught in her throat and she looked up in alarm at her name and the mention of the gate room. That could only mean one thing, there was a medical emergency that required her instant attention. An emergency that ultimately had to do with one of the SG teams that were currently off world, which also meant that there was a risk of the injured party being SG-1or SG-3. She tossed her clipboard aside and hurried out.

"Nurse, watch him. Don't let him leave!" Fraser called to the young man that was working around the infirmary.

"Yes, doctor." He said, his voice not loud enough for Fraser to hear, for she was already gone.

Jonas had shot to a sitting position upon hearing the urgent call and now breathed rapidly, his heart beating with anxiety. Had he been too late to warn them about Colonel O'Neill? He made a move to get up, but the man who'd been left in charge was at his side halting him with a hand as soon as he'd made the move.

"I can't allow you to leave and you know it." The nurse said, voice sharp.

At that instant, a terrifying flash rushed through Jonas's mind, a flash that showed him doing whatever it took to get out of the infirmary and up to the gate room. In that flash, he was quite sure he'd heard the young man breathe his last breath before falling silent, Jonas hurrying away without a look back. With this flash came a rush of extreme excitement and joy at committing a murder on an innocent stand by who hadn't been expecting it.

Jonas pushed the flash from his mind, and stared into the bright blue eyes of the young man holding him back, he resisted the urge to carry out the flash that he had been cursed with, and instead fell heavily back onto the bed with a loud, frustrated sigh. Despite his frustrated appearance, Jonas was scared, and not just by the urgent call for doctor Fraser. He felt as though something inside him was stirring, and he had no control over it and it was one of the most disconcerting feelings that Jonas had ever had.


	26. Dangerous Realizations

**Chapter 26: Dangerous Realizations**

"Get him to the infirmary, now!" Fraser yelled as she followed the medicalworkers out andleaving the rest of the team behind to be looked after by other medical personnel.

From the control room, General Hammond looked into the gate room with wide eyes. This was the first that he'd heard of the team since they'd left for their mission a few hours ago. When they'd left, they were fine, willing to go in and ready. Now, only short hours later, one of them was being rushed to the infirmary, while the others watched in what appeared to be confusion and shock. Apparently they hadn't seen it coming.

Hammond hurried down to the room where one of the team appeared to be better composed than any of the others and turned to him.

"General, it all happened so fast." The man replied, his voice was stunned.

"I want to know _exactly_ what happened, report to the infirmary and we'll debrief in a half hour." Hammond said.

"Yes, Sir." The man replied and went to see to the others who had come through with him.

Hammond cast a final look over those who had just come through and went to the infirmary to see if he could get a status report on the man that had been taken into Fraser's capable hands.

He hurried into the infirmary and saw Fraser looking rather distraught, running her hands under scolding water and vigorously scrubbing her skin raw with soap to erase the stains that had taken over.

"Doctor?" Hammond asked, clearly wondering why she wasn't in with the patient that had just been brought in.

"There was nothing anyone could do, he was dead before we got here. All efforts to revive him failed. I'm sorry." Fraser said, her eyes frustrated.

Hammond stood in stunned silence for over a minute, then nodded slowly.

"I'll make the necessary arrangements. You should let Jonas know. I'll tell the team." Hammond said and walked slowly out of the room. Fraser's dark eyes followed him, and he felt her gaze boring into his back.

Fraser took a deep breath and made her way to Jonas's bed, dreading every moment as she went. Jonas was _not_ going to like what she had to say.

* * *

"What! No, that can't be. I was talking to him a few hours ago. How did it happen?" Jonas asked, he was shocked by what Fraser had just told him, so much so, that his face was chalk white.

"Nobody knows _exactly_ what happened, but he wasn't very lucky. The others escaped quite uninjured. General Hammond went to break the news to them." Fraser replied.

"They aren't going to take it well. They'll likely take it worse than anyone." Jonas said, taking a drink of water.

"I think that's a fair assessment." Fraser replied.

* * *

Hammond had just broken the bad news to them and none were taking it very well. At first, all of them denied that it had happened, they didn't want to believe that he was gone.

"Who will replace him?" Asked the highest ranking officer present.

"I believe that is for you to decide, Major." Hammond replied quietly.

"I can get you personnel files if you want, or you can just wait and see how things work out." The General said.

The Major nodded. "I think we all want to wait it out right now."

"Very well, you are dismissed. I'll let you know when memorial services will be." Hammond said and got up from his chair. He passed sympathetic eyes over the team in front of him and with that left them sitting where they were.

The alarms sounded and the voice of the technician reported and incoming wormhole. The Major saw Hammond pick up his pace and go down to the control room, and idly, as if in a trance went to the window which looked out onto the gate room below.

The team came through, and the Major's breath caught. The team that had just come through would be the hardest to tell what had happened.

* * *

"Incoming wormhole!" Yelled the technician. Hammond hurried into the control room in time to see the iris go up.

"Who is it?" Hammond asked.

"We'll know in a moment, Sir."

The computer screen flashed with a known code and the technician smiled. Behind him, he heard General Hammond exhale in relief.

"It's SG-1's code, Sir." The technician replied.

"Open the iris." Hammond nodded. He made his way down to the gate room, his face stony.

Jack was the first to step through, and he stumbled a bit upon exiting. From where he stood, Hammond could clearly see a cut on Jack's forehead. Moments later, SG-3, Teal'c, and Sam stepped through the shimmering horizon. All of them looked rather anxious.

Jack saw Hammond's face and the smile that was resting on his face fell. Hammond didn't look happy. He pulled the sample from his jacket and held it up.

"We got the sample, Sir." O'Neill replied, a cautious smile on his face.

"Good work." Hammond said, but his face didn't change.

"Did somebody die?" Jack asked, his voice teasing.

Hammond didn't reply.

"You should come to the infirmary with me." The General said. Jack's smile instantly vanished, something had happened, and by the looks of it, it wasn't something that any of the team would be happy about.

He walked behind Sam following her to the infirmary. She kept casting concerned glances over her shoulder. Jack's only thought was that something had happened to Jonas. Why else would Hammond be escorting them to the infirmary?

The infirmary was fairly quiet when they walked in, and there was definite negativity hanging in the air like thick clouds. Fraser was nowhere to be seen.

"Doctor Fraser?" Called Hammond.

"Here, Sir." Fraser called form the direction of Jonas's bed. SG-1 walked quietly over to where she had spoken from and sighed in relief when they saw Jonas was okay. Still, Jonas's face was pale and he looked visibly shaken. Fraser was in much the same shape, but with her it was harder to tell because she had put on a pretty convincing face that was determined to let everyone know that she was fine.

"What happened?" Jack asked slowly.

Jonas and Fraser turned to him, Jonas's eyes went wide and panicky, while Fraser got up quickly to go to him.

"What happened to you?" Fraser asked, leading Jack to a bed.

"Got on the wrong end of something sharp." Jack mumbled quietly. He pushed Fraser's hand away as she reached to probe the injury.

"What happened?" O'Neill asked again, a bit more sternly.

"A team came through earlier, and I lost a patient." Fraser said as though it happened all the time, which actually held more truth than it would seem. Doctor Fraser dealt with death all the time. Still, this particular death seemed to be bothering her.

"Who?" Jack questioned.

"The team was SG-8. Corporal McMullan had been badly wounded in an encounter with unfriendly natives. We did all we could, but it wasn't enough. He was dead before we got him down here." Fraser said, and Jack saw her struggling to keep control over her emotions.

He heard Sam draw in a sharp breath behind him, and heard Teal'c shift uncomfortably in place. Jonas's face had lost colour again, and Jack was quite sure that he felt his _own_ face paling as well.

"How is his team taking it?" Sam asked quietly.

"Not well, I'm afraid, they're all pretty shook up. I had to treat them for symptoms of shock before the mission debriefing. I'm afraid they haven't accepted his death yet. It'll take them some time." Fraser replied softly. She reached for Jack's head again, but he pulled away.

"Sir, you have to let me look at this." Fraser said, her voice sounding harsh.

Jack turned to face Jonas, and the young man got quickly from bed and moved closer to O'Neill, his eyes shocked and worried. He launched for the alcohol on the bedside table and quickly removed the cap. His fingers shook as he did this. Before anyone could question Jonas's actions, he poured a good amount of the bottle directly onto the three cuts on Jack's forehead.

O'Neill recoiled in alarm, thrusting a hand up to protect his face from any further rubbing alcohol. The Colonel shouted a string of the most colourful language any of them had heard in a while, and pressed his hand hard against the cuts.

"Damn it, Jonas! What are you trying to do, kill me?" Jack exclaimed. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, and Jonas locked an alarmed gaze on O'Neill's face.

"Colonel, you've been marked. I have to get the poison out! It'll kill you, I saw it!" Jonas yelled, his voice quivering.

"Jonas, I'm fine. Look at me, Jonas! I'm fine!" Jack replied. Jonas was trying hard to avoid looking at the marks on the Colonel's forehead.

"I...I'm sorry, Colonel." Jonas stammered in disbelief.

Jack had a suspicious gaze focused on the newest member of his team, and he wasn't sure how to take Jonas's strange behaviour. Jonas looked like a caged animal, his face was pale, and his eyes were wide and panicked. To be truthful, Jonas's appearance shocked him a bit.

Fraser pulled Jonas quickly back to the bed and practically forced him into it. She then turned her attention back to Jack.

"Oh my God." Fraser said, her voice was strangely hollow, and her gaze was focused on Jack's forehead.

"What?" Jack asked.

Fraser said nothing, but drew closer to him and pulled his head down so she could get a better look at the bubbling cuts. Her eyes were puzzled. The skin surrounding Colonel O'Neill's cut was turning a charcoal grey, while brownish liquid bubbled instead of the usual white bubbling. She grabbed a nearby Q-tip and drew it over the broken skin.

Jack cursed loudly, and his face drained of all colour. His head felt as though it were cracking in two, and his entire body felt heavy. His vision blurred and kept shifting in and out of focus, his throat clenched painfully, and he found himself gasping for breath.

"Colonel!" Jonas shouted in surprise and he saw the older man's face lose all colour when Fraser drew the end of the Q-tip across the cuts. Within seconds, the grey colour had flooded down the entire left side of his face, and Jack was gasping painfully.

Jonas leapt from the bed, and felt red-hot pain slash through him, he cried out in alarm, and staggered back, his hip connecting with the edge of the bed. Several flashes of murder dashed across his line of vision, and he knew at once that the shadow creature knew of the telepathic connection, and he was making all attempts to sever it, and taking Jonas down with him.


	27. Final Battle

**Chapter 27: Final Battle**

O'Neill's knees gave out, and he crumpled to the floor, moaning in pain. Sam raced to catch him, while Hammond rushed to steady Jonas.

"Get them on the beds!" Fraser yelled, her voice alarmed.

Teal'c aided Sam in getting O'Neill onto the bed next to Jonas, while Hammond easily lifted Jonas onto the other bed.

Jonas was vaguely aware of what was happening. He felt pain, then he felt someone lift him onto the bed. Deadly images flashed violently through his mind, each one ploughing through his thoughts with the force of a herd of wild horses. He heard sounds, smelled scents, and felt emotions.

Through the flashes, he clearly saw two glowing eyes, and beneath the eyes was a wide, grinning mouth. Jonas cringed away from it, but it still watched him. He felt his face flush again, and he felt the room lurch around him. The eyes seemed to be growing closer.

"Stay away!" Jonas yelled frantically. Hammond jumped back in time to avoid a solid swing from Jonas.

"Don't you dare die on me, Colonel! I already lost one patient today. I don't want to make it two!" Fraser yelled. O'Neill's form had fallen still, and his eyes slid shut. She reached a hand to his neck to feel for a pulse, but found merely a dying flutter beneath her fingertips.

"Damn! Get the paddles, we're losing him!" Fraser shouted.

Nurses rushed to obey, and seconds later the paddles were brought to her. She flipped the switch and tore O'Neill's jacket open, yanking his shirt up.

"Now!" Fraser shocked O'Neill, and the heart rhythm picked up slightly, but died away.

"Again!" Another shock was administered, and O'Neill's rhythm remained steady.

"Got him!" On the bed next to O'Neill, she saw a small vile resting in his jacket pocket. She took it and handed it off to a shocked looking Sam before moving onto Jonas.

"We'll have to sedate him. His fever spiked again, but this is the highest I've seen it, except for the night we had to strap him down." Fraser was handed a needle with a liquid in it. She prepared the injection and slid it into Jonas's arm, which was rather difficult amongst his thrashing.

When she'd emptied the contents into his system, his form fell limp, and she reached to find a pulse. There was a strong one beating beneath her touch.

"I think we're clear, for now." Fraser said after checking both men over again.

"What the hell happened?" Hammond asked, his voice anxious.

"I think that the rubbing alcohol had an effect on the toxin, speeding its effects on Colonel O'Neill. As for Jonas, it looks like the same thing that's been happening since he was attacked on that planet." Fraser said.

"Can you fix it?" Hammond asked.

"I hope so, Sir." Fraser replied with a curt nod.

"Get on it." Hammond said.

Fraser nodded and got to work.

* * *

The base alarms sounded and a technician's voice reported an incoming wormhole. There were sounds of yelling in the background, followed by the Tech's voice again, sounding panicked and afraid.

"We have a breech, I repeat, we have a breech! Security to the Gate room, we require security!" the voice was cut off by an interference of static, and the halls of the base echoed with footsteps.

Jonas snapped awake, the sedation having worn off after a few hours. He sat up in the bed, and looked over to where Colonel O'Neill lay, wires and monitors hooked to him. The base lights died away, and Jonas heard the sounds of wind being tossed around the corridors.

With a sharp breath, he got from his bed, and was stopped by no one as he dressed quickly and hurried to the gate room. As he approached the room, he saw that the door was standing wide open and panicked shouts came from inside.

Jonas felt a strange sensation tugging in his stomach, and he knew almost immediately that the breech had been caused by the shadow. He couldn't explain how, but he just _knew_. He pushed through the crowd of fleeing soldiers who were obeying the command to evacuate the gate room. Jonas however ignored the wise words and went inside anyway.

He stopped a few feet inside; two or three men lay on the floor, clearly dead, while the gate flickered madly behind a shadowy shape that seemed to be blowing about in unseen wind. The shadow turned to Jonas, and the young man stifled a scream. He saw two, vibrant red eyes staring at him, surrounded by ashy grey skin.

"Jonas Quinn." The creature spoke, the voice sounded like gravel beneath running feet, and it clearly sent messages of warning.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Jonas asked fiercely.

"It's not what I want, it's what I'm going to _do._"

"Really? What would that be?"

The doors slammed shut behind Jonas and the young man turned to them in a hurry. He was trapped with no way out, and the shielding doors were shut over the windows looking into the briefing room and the control room. He was trapped and nobody knew where he was.

"I'm going to kill. I'm going to kill you, and whoever gets in the way. Nobody who I mark ever survives. I do not know how you did, but you will pay for it." The shadow snarled.

"Why punish me? I can't help it if your curse didn't work on me." Jonas snapped.

"It should have worked! You should be dead!"

"Well, I'm not, but I have a friend who may be very soon if you don't tell me how to reverse your mark." Jonas replied, getting right down to business.

"Reverse? Why would I want to give you _that_ information?"

"So I can save the life of a friend."

The creature laughed maliciously.

"It _can_ be reversed, can't it?" Jonas asked.

"Perhaps, but you'll never find out how."

Jonas glared with fiery fierceness. He didn't dare to look in the thing's eyes, so he cast his gaze above the creature's head slightly.

"How can you be so sure?"

"You will not live long enough to learn it." The creature lunged, and Jonas dodged it like an expert.

The thing lunged again, and Jonas jumped out of the way, landing on his stomach and gasping as the connection sent waves of pain through his injuries. He turned onto his back and saw three large claws glinting in the flickering light of the gate, other than that, all was dark.

Jonas rolled as the claws descended upon him. The creature's hand hit the ground, and sent sparks glowing secondarily in the thing's face. The creature recoiled quickly; shouting something that Jonas couldn't make out. That didn't matter though, Jonas now knew the thing had a weakness and if he could use the weakness against it, he might be able to gain the upper hand.

Wait, if the creature was vulnerable to light why was it able to survive in the flickering of the gate?

"That is a very interesting story. You see I have shielded the _gate_ and the shield cannot be removed. Despite what you see, the light will not hurt me. I have made certain of it." The shadow thing growled.

Jonas mentally cursed himself, if he could see into the shadow's mind, it only made sense that the thing could see into _his_ mind, and _possibly _control his actions. That wasn't something that Jonas wanted to think about right now, though.

"Very good, you are a bright person. Too bad I have to do away with you." The thing lunged while Jonas was lost in thought, Jonas was struck and thrown across the room, he connected with the wall and hit the floor, dazed, but otherwise okay.

* * *

Carter ran into the infirmary when the power died. O'Neill's life depended on the power staying on! He was hooked to machines that were temporarily keeping him alive. Machines that were helping him through incase he ran into some difficulties.

She hurried to O'Neill's bedside and pressed her fingers to his neck, there was a pulse, but it was irregular. She turned to Jonas's bed and saw it empty. Her heart raced. Where was Jonas? She didn't have time to think about it now; all she knew was that Jonas was gone. She'd help get him back _after_ the power was restored. She dashed from the room, and nearly ran into an officer who was running by. Without an apology, Sam hurried to get the power back up and running.

* * *

Hammond was standing in the control room, the widow into the gate room blocked. The power had died, and Hammond's thoughts immediately turned to Colonel O'Neill in the infirmary. There was no way he could survive long without the power!

"Sergeant Siler, get down there and see if you can get the power back on!" Hammond yelled to Siler, who still seemed to be suffering from his double concussion.

Nonetheless, Siler nodded and hurried to see what he could do.

* * *

Jonas lay panting on the floor; he was losing this encounter miserably. He was at the point now where he just wanted it all to end. He was in so much pain, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the upper hand against this thing.

He struggled to kneel and was about to get up when he was struck again, he was violently tossed back, and his head hit the wall. There was an audible crack, and Jonas felt his world blossom in newfound pain. The room lurched around him, and his vision drifted in and out of focus. He shut his eyes tight against the spinning and knew that was the worst mistake he could make. He was almost _certain_ to be killed now. He opened his eyes quickly, but saw that it was too late, three claws were shoved at him, aiming to stab clear through him.


	28. Connections

**Chapter 28: Connections**

Jonas struggled to move, and managed to stand and avoid being sliced in two just in time. He staggered on his feet, swaying dangerously, while the creature prepared for another strike.

"Wait!" Jonas yelled, stopping the creature.

"What?" The shadow snarled.

"I said wait, please." Jonas replied.

He thought that if he could stall the creature a few moments longer, someone would realize that he was trapped inside the room with no way out. His eyes darted to the soldiers on the floor. A gun lay next to each one. If he could just get one of the weapons, it'd be enough to stun the creature.

The guns flew out of reach. "You think I don't know what you're planning? Don't forget, I'm _inside_ you." The thing growled.

It was true. Jonas felt the creature's presence boiling within. He saw what the creature saw, and felt what it felt. There _had_ to be a way to get it out! He'd shown increased mental abilities before, perhaps he could fight off the invasion of his mind. He'd tried it before without success, but who was to say that it wouldn't work _this_ time?

He was pretty much finished. He had to try _something._ Maybe he could at least help Colonel O'Neill. The minds of both Jonas and the walking shadow were connected, one had access to the other's thoughts. Jonas had to try and worm his way into the shadow's mind, and search for the mark reversal on his own. It was the only way he could see himself being of any help at all.

_Eyes are the windows to the soul_. Jonas recalled the saying, and wondered if it would be of any help. He wasn't trying to get into the creature's soul, but the mind was the closest thing to it. He had to look the thing in the eyes, as much as he hated to, he had to. He knew that the moment his eyes locked with the other's he'd freeze in place and be helpless. He didn't want to take the chance, but he knew it was necessary.

Gathering all the courage he could, he looked the shadow in the eyes, glowing red locked on Jonas's gaze. Jonas instantly felt himself freezing, felt himself getting lost in the curse that had been tailing him ever since the first attack. He was overcome by a wash of fiery pain that lanced through his entire body, and he knew he'd been struck again. Seconds later he hit the floor, but did not move his eyes from the creature's.

Terrifying images flashed through his mind, smells, sounds, emotions. He was overcome by all of it. He dug deeper into the creature's mind, but did not find what he was searching for. He now realized that the creature had stopped attacking, he struggled to stand and planted his feet in a wide stance. He kept his eyes focused on his target.

Horrific flashes plagued him, trying to get him to let go of the hold he had on the creature's mind. The shadow was struggling against him, and he was struggling against _it_, two minds locked in heated battle.

A little further. There! He had what he was looking for, at the same instant he grasped the cure, the lights flickered back on, the creature howled in pain, and Jonas felt his entire body erupt in the same pain the creature was feeling. He was still connected with the shadow, and the creature was suffering, therefore, Jonas suffered. Jonas yelled out in shock, felt his head explode in agony, and tried desperately to sever the connection he had created.

Minutes dragged on, and Jonas still hadn't been able to free himself. The walking shadow had fallen to the ground, screaming in pain, and Jonas saw grey smoke coiling from it. The link _had_ to be broken, and it had to be done _as soon as possible_! The creature was fading, but still kept a firm grasp on Jonas's consciousness, pulling him under as it died away.

Closed doors around the gate room opened, and he heard frightened calls of many people. Still he remained standing, ignoring everything except breaking the connection. He had what he needed. He didn't have to be here any longer. He struggled against the weakening grip on his consciousness that was coming from the creature.

A split second later, he _felt_ the connection snap. It staggered him off balance and he stumbled back. The shadow creature fell in a wisp of smoke and vanished, leaving nothing behind, Jonas saw all of this, and it caused his stomach to turn over. A harsh wind rushed at him, and churned around the gate room, vanishing into nothing but a memory. Jonas relaxed, he had what he needed. He fell forward, felt his hands connect with the floor in a futile attempt to stop himself, and passed over into darkness.

* * *

The doors had opened, and Hammond looked down to see Jonas and the shadow standing mere feet away from each other, and Jonas's face was screwed into a look of pure concentration, and he was visibly struggling. 

Grey smoke drifted from the creature, and Hammond thought he could see the light literally cooking the thing. It yelled, then Jonas yelled, three minutes passed, and Hammond saw Jonas stagger back away from the fallen creature. A cloud of smoke erupted from where the creature had just been, followed by a strong wind that slashed through the gate room.

When the wind passed, Hammond saw a look of surprised alarm come over Jonas, and the young man fell forward. His hands did nothing to slow him down, and he hit the floor with a dull thud. Hammond's breath caught in his throat and he ran to the open gate room, where he made his way over to Jonas, who was lost in unconsciousness.

Hammond kept a touch on Jonas's neck to feel the pulse fluttering feebly beneath his fingers and shouted to the nearest airman to call doctor Fraser to the gate room. He inclined Jonas's head, and sawthe young man'sface had gone pale. A thick sheen of perspiration covered Jonas's face and neck.

Fraser rushed into the gate room, followed by two medical personnel pushing a stretcher. She dropped next to Hammond and cast an urgent glance over Jonas's pale form.

"What happened?" Fraser asked, checking vitals.

"I don't exactly know, but I _do_ know the walking shadow is dead." Hammond said, allowing Jonas to be lifted from under his touch and taken to the infirmary.

"Are you okay, Sir?" Fraser asked.

"I'm fine, go and see to Jonas." Hammond replied, getting up from his kneeling position.

Fraser nodded and hurried out after the medical team.

* * *

"Jonas? Are you with me?" Came Fraser's soft voice from a distance. Jonas groaned, his entire body hurt. 

"Good. Open your eyes." Fraser ordered gently.

Jonas pushed himself to open his eyes, and hissed loudly as pain bloomed in his head from the intense light.

"Jonas?" Fraser asked.

"Headache." Jonas replied.

"That's understandable, you fought that thing off in a battle of mental strength. Your body is probably exhausted."

"It's gone, right?" Jonas questioned.

"Yeah, it's gone. Sam and Sergeant Siler got the power back on just in time by the looks of it, the creature turned to fog before it got the chance to finish you off. Jonas, you were losing miserably." Fraser said, her mouth turning into a smile.

"Tell me about it. I'll have to thank Sergeant Siler and Major Carter next time I see them." Jonas stated, then a thought flashed through his mind, and he drew in a startled breath.

"What is it?" Fraser asked, watching Jonas critically.

"I know how to help Colonel O'Neill. It's so simple. I can't believe I hadn't thought of it before." Jonas replied, puzzled at his lack of judgement.

"How?" Fraser asked quickly.

"Just combine my blood with the creature's and separate the parts that Colonel O'Neill's body is likely to reject." Jonas replied.

"How will combining your blood with the creature's create a cure?" Fraser asked.

"I don't know, but it will. Trust me. I saw it when I was searching the shadow's memories. You combine his blood with the blood of a marked survivor and separate the bad parts. It'll work, trust me." Jonas said.

"If you insist." Fraser sighed and prepared a needle to draw blood from Jonas's arm.

It took her a good half hour, maybe more to get the serum finished. It was probably longer, Jonas didn't know, he'd lost track of time.

"I've got it as good as can be expected." Fraser finally said.

Jonas watched anxiously as Fraser slid the needle into O'Neill's arm and injected the contents into him. Within seconds there was a marked change in the Colonel's status, his heart rate increased to a near fatal rate, while his blood pressure went through the roof. His face flushed with fever, and he began to cough.

Fraser was on him in seconds, she did what she could, and just as she was preparing to administer an electric shock to the Colonel, his signs leveled off and dropped to near-perfect. The older man moaned in his sleep and lifted his eyelids to look blearily around.

"It was an almost instant effect. Good work, Jonas." Fraser said, but when she got no reply, she turned quickly to where Jonas had dropped into sleep. She was convinced it was sleep because of the steady breathing and even rise and fall of Jonas's chest.

"You're both going to be fine. If you do what I say and _rest_." Fraser replied before Jack even got the chance to speak.

* * *

Jonas was sitting alone at a table in the mess hall. He hadn't felt the presence of the creature since he felt the connection being broken. Since then, he'd felt no after effects of his connection, and his injuries were healing up nicely. 

The rest of SG-1 had left moments earlier, leaving Jonas to finish his meal. Jonas didn't mind though, he much preferred being alone at the moment. He was glad just to get the time to relax and recover from the last mission into the unknown.

Hurried footsteps were heard coming to his table.

"There's still something I don't get." Came Jack's voice, the Colonel was nearly back to himself, and he hadn't stopped drilling Jonas about what had happened since he woke up.

Jonas sighed, a smile creeping to his face. "What now, Colonel?" Jonas asked in a friendly way.

"How come the bullets had an effect on that thing, when light was really its weakness?" Jack asked.

Jonas chuckled to himself. "The light from the gun when it was fired, stunned it momentarily. It wasn't the bullets at all, although, I'm sure they helped keep the creature down." Jonas replied. He was getting used to getting questions such as this from O'Neill by now.

"Oh, yeah. I knew that." Jack grinned.

"Sure, Colonel." Jonas mumbled to himself.

"How are the villagers adjusting?" Jack asked casually.

"They're fine, and getting to enjoy the night life rather well. We've been invited to spend a night of music and festivities with them. They're all very grateful for our help in vanquishing the walking shadow." Jonas replied.

"A party? Great, when is it?" O'Neill asked eagerly.

"Tomorrow night. General Hammond is supposed to call a meeting later to inform us about it." Jonas said.

"Then how do you know about it _now_?" Jack asked.

Jonas recalled General Hammond informing him of the plans while O'Neill wasn't present. Jonas smiled easily and said, with hints of irony: "It pays to have connections."

Jack eyed him suspiciously for a few moments, but shrugged and walked off with a farewell.

**The End**

**A/N: Okay so that was it, I hope I answered all unanswered questions. Leave me your thoughts and tell me how you thought the story turned out. Sorry if this chapter seemed rushed, it was the only wayI could fit everything in and hopefully cover all the basics. Let me know what you think!**


End file.
